


Magical Maladies and Miseries

by Sev_Snake



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, It's Kind of a Funny Story
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter - Freeform, It's Kind of a Funny Story - Freeform, Other, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Starring Ellen Page
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 15:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 43,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1715666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sev_Snake/pseuds/Sev_Snake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marietta Edgecombe checks herself into St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries hoping to find a cure for her ghastly sneak pustules, but when even world renowned Healers fail at helping her, must she lose not just her mother's love, her popularity and her acclaimed friends, but even her beauty too?</p><p>-Following the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-</p><p>-Based on the world created by J.K Rowling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A fun filled summer.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the universe created by J.K. Rowling.

She sat there on the bed staring longingly into the mirror before her. The eyes looking back were unlike the usual ones that fell upon her. They were much more appealing to look at for their lack of contempt. They wavered, carrying only sympathy. Fear dwelled on the face looking back, donning the mask of horror and dejection. Yet, even this disguise could not hide the grotesque maim that lay beneath. Her breathing intensified and her heart throbbed as she absorbed it all, every beat of it vibrating throughout her body. Melancholic chills rushed down her spine. Tears swelled up inside those sorrowful hazel eyes looking back, blurring her vision fleetingly, in a feeble attempt to protect her from the ghastly reflection studying her.

Unable to stare at the dreadfulness for much longer, she cupped her hands and covered her face. Her palms pressed onto the oddly coloured blisters speckled across her cheeks. She shivered consumed by both fear and rage. Her muffled screams filled the room. She removed her hands, pummelling them into the bed several times. The reflection shot back a menacing look. She grabbed the pillow on her bed and flung it at the mirror, hoping to chase the creature away. It remained. Enraged, she turned sharply and wiped clean the nightstand of her bed, immune to the pulsating pain at her elbows. 

Bottles scattered about the floor shattering, signifying her life as she knew it, shattered. She grabbed onto her curly auburn air, clutching onto it with all frustration. Their curls refused to fall anywhere near the monstrous thing, even to attempt to shield all eyes from her face. She tugged at it harshly until her hands slipped loose. She pounded the bed several times more. Her tears could no longer hold their positions and began pouring incessantly. She embedded scooped hands onto her face again, sobbing heavily, instinctively palming out her blisters yet again. Her life was shattered. She wished that it would just be over instead of living in this disfigured mask of a once pretty face, a once beautiful pale face, with not even a glimmer of imperfection. She wept a great deal into her hands, aware once more of the dastardly things carved onto her face. She was oblivious to the entry of the nurse, paying no heed of her muttered worries of concern as she cleaned up the mess. Then those revolting words found their way to her, those lies that were insufficient in parting her from her tears, “Don’t worry dear, it will be all right.” 

It will be all right? Those words stung her chest as if pierced with the Nagini’s venom. Those words were all lies. They meant NOTHING! They were only used by people to make them feel that they were compassionate to those in turmoil. It could never be all right, none of them knew how each day the poison ran through her blood, refusing to kill her, instead only leaving her in a state of despondency. It will be all right? Those were the words that her mother told her many years ago when she was just a child, when her father disapparated from her home. Those were the words the Ministry said to everyone just a month ago, when they were proven wrong at their conclusion of the return of the Dark Lord. Those were the words that she used on her best friend Cho Chang when her boyfriend Cedric Diggory died. Those were the words Dolores Umbridge said to her when her face erupted with purple blemishes etching into her pale coloured face, forming little foundations of red spots underneath the enormous pimples. Those were the words the Minister said to her when she broke down in tears before him. Those were the words Madame Pomfrey said to her when she first treated her, and the several times after she was unsuccessful in finding a cure. Those were the words all those Healers at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, even dear nurse Dr. Grant, cleaning up the mess, said to her when every bit of their remedies failed over the course of five days.

The only person that she thought was the most honest with her was her mother. Her view on the situation was quite simple: She angrily accused Marietta of once again failing to do the right thing... yet again! “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You were the one who broke the rules and you even refused to tell Umbridge everything, as vile as that woman was!” To add insult to injury, she even acted as though her daughter’s issue was not such a traumatic experience. “If you want to go sit in a hospital all day, so be it Marietta. Some of us actually have real problems, like trying to find a job!”

It was two weeks into her summer vacation now, and Marietta had isolated herself to her room, with the hope of avoiding much interaction with her mother, who was very busy and luckily, on the verge of landing a new job. Locked away in her room, she had no interactions with anybody except her beautiful white coloured owl named Fluttery, who brought her perhaps the best news or in some cases the most envious news from her dear friend, Cho Chang. Cho still remained loyal to her, despite everybody she lost for her apparent betrayal. Marietta was grateful for that, though some days she could not bear to even think about Cho. Cho was always perfect. She was the most beautiful girl in the school, she was the most popular and she was of course every boy’s dream. Envy usually never emanated, except on the rare occasion, and right now she could not bear to imagine them standing next to each other. 

Marietta had gotten used to being in her friend’s shadow but it was never an issue with her, she had reaped success as a result of it. She was popular in her own right. She was popularly known as the “red hot” best friend of Cho Chang, a pun based on her impeccable clever and auburn hair. She was considered beautiful. She was popular, while all girls tried to be like Cho, there were some who emulated her by dying their hair red and using spells to make it curly as well. Then she became known to the boys as well, they all loved her and tried immensely to impress her. Popularity had now extenuated however. She sometimes thought she was now notorious instead. She was popular, well known and eyes longed to see her, all for a very different reason. She was known as SNEAK. That was all people called her. Everyone snickered, pointed at her and whispered loud enough for her to hear. Those that were beloved to her looked away with disdain. Usually people at school lent support to those tortured by the Slytherins, but even those people sided with them. 

She remembered the night after her face exploded in burns, moments before becoming etched with gross pimples. Not just normal pimples, but large purple coloured pimples that looked like they were on the verge of bursting, but they would not... no, they would just stay there and mark her face disfigured. The Slytherins of the Inquisitional Squad stood in the corner chuckling at her, as if her looks were not punishment enough. While she stayed hidden from Hogwarts for the rest of the school year, the Slytherins had taken a picture, which they hung in the corridors despite Argus Flitch constant efforts at removal. Everyone knew her now. She was certainly notorious.

Five days had now elapsed since she checked herself into the hospital. Her mother refused to bring her. Marietta nearly stubbornly refused to take herself as her mother handed her the gold galleons out of anger and frustration, but she could not live like this so she sucked up her pride. It was difficult getting about the country. She had to keep her face concealed as she could not let the Muggles see, but even if she had not the need to, she would. She would have simply disapparated to the hospital, but she had never been there before. 

After turning a couple of heads with her balaclava, Marietta took refuge in an alleyway and decided to conceal her face using the silk Burberry checker scarf she often had draped over her neck. She wrapped it into a shemagh style wrap, knotting it at the back of her head and covering her face from beneath her eyes. With the excess length, she let it fall casually in front of her coat. Finding it much more presentable she set out again. Unfortunately she still turned a few heads, as the usual attire on that particular day saw people dressed suitably for the warm weather with sleeveless tops and short trousers. 

Finally she arrived at the hospital and was promised release by the evening. Remedy after remedy failed however. It went into an overnight stay to that of several days. Finally they found the perfect one on the third day to help, but instead it discoloured her entire face matching those of the purple blisters. She had to stay a few more days, for no more tests could be done until that had cured. They recommended then that she stay on the psychiatric ward to pass her time while they conjured up more cures. Due to her occasional breakdowns, her nurse was quick to register her. She was scheduled to start tomorrow. She had not intended to spend her summer like this but there was not much of an option for her. It was needed and she needed to hold on to some hope that she would be fine one day, though deep down she foresaw her predicament as being everlasting. The best Healers, at the greatest hospital in the world had tried and failed to cure her ailments. 

Marietta’s owl, Fluttery entered into the room dropping a parchment upon her lap. With tears dropping off of her eyes and pimples, Marietta stretched her hand out. The owl took a seat upon her finger. As if consoling her, he pecked at her skin without biting. She smiled finally and using her other hand she wiped her tears. 

“Hoot hoot...” the owl went. 

“Yes Fluttery, I am all right. I miss you too.”

“Hoot,”

Marietta stroked his head and back as Fluttery tilted his body accordingly, “Tomorrow they will move me to the Wards, but I’ll be home soon okay? How is mum?” 

Fluttery straightened in his stance. 

“Still bad huh?” Marietta chuckled. 

The nurse appeared at the doorway, having swept and scooped the splinters and broken bottles about the floor, “Miss Edgecombe...”

“Please call me Marietta...”

“Marietta, well... I am just checking. Do you need me to get you anything?”

“No, and I am sorry about the mess...”

“It’s no problem, I understand.”

“Thanks...”

“Is that your owl?

“Yes,”

“He is beautiful,”

At least one of us is, she thought.

The next morning came. Marietta woke up to see Fluttery perched on her window sill. “I thought I told you to go home?”

Fluttery arched his head in her direction before scratching his wing with his beak. 

“I know you want to stay with me, but you need to take this to Cho for me okay?”

Marietta picked up a piece of parchment from in her drawer and signed it. MariE, “Get this to Cho, and if you want you can give her a peck too for me okay?” Marietta stroked Fluttery a few times before placing the parchment in his beak. “Goodbye, fly safe... watch out for Hippogriffs, and brooms and most importantly, dragons...” Marietta chuckled as she picked up Fluttery and opened the window. Wings outstretched, Fluttery hoisted off of Marietta’s palm and flew off into the sky. A sudden feeling of sadness fell over her as she saw him disappear into the sun’s rays. She knew however, unlike the others that abandoned her, he would return. Marietta muttered an incantation and all her bags stood up at the door awaiting her. She would get dressed before the nurse came. 

“Okay right in here Miss... Marietta.” 

“Thank you Dr. Grant,”

“I will be here, everyday...”

“... Except Saturdays,” Marietta finished with her. 

Beaming the nurse finished, “Feel free to call me anytime okay darling?”

“Yes madam, thank you.”

The nurse left as Marietta entered through the double steel doors. Marietta squinted as she stepped inside the ward. It was bright and lambent. White walls refracted beams of florescent lights throughout the premises. She staggered for a moment before proceeding further. The insides were white as first glance, with the only discolorations being the brown doors along the corridor and the blue reception desk just up ahead. There were a couple of Healers sitting with coffee cups in their grasps, while a cleaner sat having breakfast opposite them. They looked over at her, so she hastened, doing her best to not look in their direction. She approached the reception desk where there was a man sitting reading a magazine. Marietta was grateful she wrapped her scarf particularly in the shemagh wrap, for he did look very cute and she didn’t have to worry about revealing her desires and imagination of him. He looked up as she stopped by the table. 

“Oh, Miss Edgecombe...”

“... Hullo.”

“We apologise for the inconvenience but unfortunately we don’t have any free rooms available, so you will be sharing a room with someone okay?”

JOY! “Err, okay...”

“Besides, Dr. Grant suggested that we find you a shared room,”

“Oh okay... why?”

“Apparent emotional breakdowns and outbursts,” he said as he studied a manila folder on the table.

“Oh... those...” she said, flushing. 

The receptionist’s smiled carved into his already chiselled face, “Okay so, I will take you to your room, show you around while we go. Also, it is a bit warm in here, you can remove that scarf if you want,”

“I am good actually,”

“Okay, well right this way. I am Tom.”

Marietta entered into her room as she thanked Tom for showing her around. She looked about and saw her bags waiting for her on top of the bed across the room. The room was just as white as the outside and most of the other rooms Tom had pointed out to her. At the far end she saw her roommate’s bed and cupboard. She was grateful for a tidy roommate. She walked over to her bed and sat down. She exhaled heavily as she threw herself back onto the bed. Marietta was not very happy to be sharing a room. It was already difficult to hide her face in her dormitory back at Hogwarts where she shared with three other girls including Cho, though Cho did in fact see her face often. It would be nice to have someone to talk to though, but she wanted that freedom to stay hidden from the world. Anyway, most of the people on the wards probably had worse and more severe issues than her and probably would not even find it funny given their predicament. She glanced at the clock over the doorway she entered from. It read quarter to eight. Tom told her most of the activities started at nine. Marietta figured she would just stay on the bed for some time. 

The door opened with a loud creak stirring Marietta out of her slight slumber. She squinted with the bright glare of the white room. She saw a tall blurry figure standing at the doorway looking at her. The clock overhead showed it was now twenty minutes past eight. The person entered shutting the door behind them. 

“Good morning!” came a happy, quirky voice with genuine bonhomie.

Marietta sat up on the bed with her hands blocking some of the glare, noticing a fair, blonde haired girl dressed in black sweat pants and a white salutation top. “Hello,”

“You must be my roommate. I am Katherine! You can call me Kathy! Everyone calls me Kathy!”

Marietta stammered for a bit trying to absorb it all in. “I am Marietta,”

“Oh I like the name Marietta, can I call you Mari? Do your friends call you Mari? I prefer the name Mariette, unless you don’t like that. I suppose if you are going to say Mariette you might as well say Marietta, as it is a very beautiful name!”

“Oh... thanks,” Marietta said with a raised eyebrow. 

“No need to thank me. That’s what friends are for! Only I am not a friend as I just met you and as a result I don’t know if to call you Mari. I like Mariette, but if you are going to say that you might as well say Marietta!”

“Yes, I am Marietta you can call me anything, nice to meet you Katherine,” Marietta stood up and extended her hand. 

Katherine took it with delight, shaking her hand briskly, “Is it cold?”

“What?”

“Of course it’s cold! You’re wearing a scarf, who wears a scarf indoors? I will turn down the air condition. You are familiar with the air condition... it is some work of Muggle magic! Which is silly, I know, because Muggles do not have magic, yet they have these amazing things that keep you cool and you know... Wait where is the wand remote control thingy? I shouldn’t be asking myself that because if I knew the answer I would not need to be asking for it... asking you makes no sense because you are new...”

“No! Katherine, I am fine, I just prefer my scarf,”

“You have such beautiful eyes no doubt your face is just as pretty wish I could see!” Katherine squinted and studied Marietta. 

“Err...”

“What’s the matter? Want me to get you something? I can show you around the room? Yes! I will show you around the room!”

“No, I... everything is fine...”

“It is no problem, if it was I would not have offered,”

“I know...”

“Unless it is a problem and I only offered because it is the expected nice thing to do in which case...”

“Katherine! It’s fine... I am all right!” Marietta forced a beam upon her eyes, but her face masked by her veil remained perplexed. 

Katherine beamed even brighter and clapped her hands, startling her, “All right Marietta!”

“Yes... So what is it like here? Tom...”

“Oh Tom, he is lovely isn’t he? I saw him when I was on my way back from my yoga sessions... Do you like yoga? Do you do yoga? It is really relaxing, and helps take your mind off of your problems,” Marietta rolled her eyes as Katherine continued, “he told me I had a roommate and he thought it would help me and he said you were nice, and that I could tell you all about yoga, and that I could be friends with you. He mentioned your name then but I forgot, I remember him saying something with a comb? Do you comb your hair? It is really curly. Do you cut it? It seems pretty big. It is nice though, I love how it curls! My hair isn’t as curly, it is much easier to comb than yours. But it is quite boring, because mine is straight and only goes one way. Is that your natural colour?”

“Katherine! Yes! It is.”

“Oh...”

“It is natural. It is a mess to comb. I didn’t get a chance to cut it since... I kind of want it to grow, I also...”

“You like...”

“Edgecombe is my name what is yours?” Marietta winced as she realised she asked a question.

“Sinclair. Katherine Sinclair and you are Marietta Edgecombe.”

“Yes I am! And you’re Katherine nice to meet you. I have never tried yoga, what time does it start? Are there other activities here?” Marietta’s breath was rapid as she tried to get all her questions in.

“Yes! There are many, many, many activities here because if there wasn’t we would all be bored and it helps to keep the patients occupied and doing other stuff than basking in their own misery!”

“Oh...”

“There are many! Yoga begins early in the morning, by six. Then there are so much more activities. There is art and crafts, and...”

Marietta sat down on her bed yawning as Katherine continued. Marietta had to admit, she enjoyed the enthusiasm given her quiet holiday, but it was indeed overwhelming. She wondered if she had any need to take part in activities as her issues were nothing compared to those impaired mentally. As Katherine began discussing the things she liked against the things she didn’t like about the particular course, Marietta realised that her summer vacation was definitely going to be exhausting. 

It was a little after nine when the door knocked. Katherine was in the shower¬¬ which Marietta was thankful for. She strolled over to the door blushing beneath her scarf as Tom’s smile further enlightened his handsome face. He was standing outside with his mopped brown pompadour radiating in the florescent light. 

“Miss Edgecombe,”

“Err hi...”

“Hello, well I thought I would check with you to see if Katherine was in... proper condition to share the information I sent?” 

“Oh, yeah it was... not, I mean I don’t know what exactly, am I to do,”

“Yes, well Dr. Grant told me to inform you that she discussed your condition with our therapist,”

“Oh,” Marietta looked down at the floor wondering if it was possible for Tom to be picturing her face. 

“She suggested that although your condition is not really... well ward worthy as you had implied that you could still benefit from taking part in the activities on here.”

“Oh... okay, but I thought I was just staying here for, well until they were ready to try more cures?”

“Yes, but Dr. Grant signed you up to take some weekly meetings with Dr. Bridge. Regarding the report she wrote on you, Grant suggested that you take these classes before you come see her on Friday,”

“Oh ok... I...” Marietta looked away uneasily into the room. 

“Don’t worry Miss Edgecombe; there isn’t anything you need to worry about. The activities are relaxing, and it certainly would add something to your summer vacation don’t you think? Besides they are fun and there are a couple of cute boys around too,” Tom gave a wink that made Marietta giggle hysterically. 

“Oh, well...”

“Yes, so when Katherine comes out tell her to take you to room two o’ three, and also could I ask you something?”

“Yes...” I would date you of course!

“You go to school with Harry Potter don’t you?”

“Yes,”

“Are you friends?”

“Um...”

“I am just wondering what he is like,”

“Well, we are in different years, but I know him.”

“Oh,”

“He is a great wizard... stands firm for what he believes in and he even taught some of us how to defend ourselves,”

“Oh that is great news then,”

“Yeah given what might be coming to pass,”

“Indeed, I think Harry Potter needs to be as safe as he can be, let’s just hope he gets the proper backing from the Ministry,”

“Yeah... I hope so too... I hope so too...”

“Okay well, anything else you can tell me about Harry Potter would be nice, and don’t be a stranger around the wards!”

“Oh,”

“You will also find that if you give it a chance, you might surprise yourself and have some fun while here. Have a pleasant day Miss Edgecombe.”

“You too Dr. Tom,”

Marietta shut the door behind Tom leaning her back upon it. She buried her face into her hands reliving the hate she had instilled within her for Harry Potter and her current situation. She felt embarrassed now knowing that even the cute doctor she found attractive knew about her predicament. What was she expecting? He would obviously know her symptoms, but still, she could not let herself be seen, least of all by him!

“I am sure Tom thinks you’re a nice girl too Mari, don’t worry. Could I call you Mari? Or would you prefer Mariette? Of course, if you can say Mariette...” said Katherine in a red patterned robe, alarming her.

“No, it isn’t like that with Tom, he is just a doctor.”

“He is not just a doctor. He is also the receptionist at these wards!”

“Yeah he is. I didn’t know...”

“Still, I am sure he would be into a pretty girl like yourself...”

“Me? No... I am not pretty,”

“Well you are, you have nice eyes, hair, I haven’t seen your face yet because you like your scarf, it looks pretty stylish I must say, I want to try it sometime, but I don’t see how you breathe. I guess you are probably protecting that pretty face of yours...”

“Katherine could you get your stuff and let’s go, Tom came by to tell us to hurry up to room two hundred and three, we are late.”

“Oh dear oh dear oh dear... give me a moment to get my bag! Or you can go on ahead, no you don’t know the way you would get lost, but then you could just go to the reception area and ask Tom, gives you a reason to talk to him...”

“Katherine please, just get your stuff, we will talk once we get there,”


	2. An internal look.

A couple of weeks had gone by since Marietta joined the institution, and despite her initial doubt in staying around, she was grateful that Dr. Grant had urged her to. She most surprisingly enjoyed being able to discuss her problems with Dr. Emily Bridge, the residing therapist. The sessions proved to be very interesting, and Marietta was very relieved that she was not being urged to remove her scarf. In fact, with great tact, Emily had waddled into deep waters by focussing more on her than addressing the primary concern of the elephant in the room. She sensed that Marietta was mustering up the best defensive spells to not talk about that. With another plan in motion, she decided that she had to first earn her client’s trust.

Marietta, despite being in denial about the issues with her mother, found that they surfaced several times. As the session went on however, she became increasingly comfortable with Emily, who found great intrigue in even the smallest of issues. She divulged more into the difficult relationship with her mother, but then surprisingly to her client, topics relating to her father cropped up. Marietta was the centre of his universe. Until he disappeared from my life somewhere before my tenth birthday! He never left a note or sent her anything. She had no idea where he was, what he was doing with his life and if he was happy. During her third year at Hogwarts she had earned so much popularity and friends that she had pushed thoughts of him away. She was the centre of her own universe and did not need him. Or so she thought, as she habitually found herself venturing to his picture in tears, when she had to endure the constant badgering from her mother, due to her failure to meet what was deemed as appropriate standards. While her father was always happy with whatever she did, she felt as though she was never good enough for her mother.

“You are a disgrace!” her mother would shout when Marietta scored an A and not an A plus. “A younger wizard is excelling better than you!” her mother exclaimed when news of a year one Gryffindor student was achieving grades on par with Ravenclaw students. Marietta never understood what was expected of her against Hermione Granger.

“Doctor Bridge, she wasn’t even in my year!” Marietta raged. It was something she could never understand. She was happy that someone was setting records that future Ravenclaw students had to rise against, but Marietta thought that she excelled just as well in school. It wasn’t even as if she was in direct competition with Hermione. Though now, she felt as though the opportunity to face off against her did come and she had lost. Hermione had bested her and here she lay battered and mutilated, to such an extent that even the world renowned Healers couldn’t help her. That stuck up bitch!

“Those girls are bad news!” Mrs. Edgecombe would claim as she expressed distaste at Marietta’s choice of friends. She accused them for encouraging her in dating and further engraved that thought in her when Dolores Umbridge caught Marietta making out with Edward Pattinson and cast an incantation that separated them. Dr. Bridge noticed right away the cautionary steps Marietta was taking, so she did not probe deeper into the story of Dolores Umbridge, nor could she have as an emotional breakdown followed right there. Marietta was overwhelmed as she reflected on all of her insecurities and disappointments. Emily knew, as advanced in the field as she was, better than to advise a client against crying. She simply comforted her, and suggested that in spite of being unable to meet those requirements that others had set for her, that Marietta needed to realise that the views of other people should not tamper with the tableau she had of herself.

When she was not having her sessions with Dr. Bridge, Marietta spent her time engaging in the activities with the other members. The classes were going well. Marietta hated them at first, except the morning yoga sessions. She really enjoyed those because it was quite small. Tom also joined in on occasion, and she relished seeing his pretty face before her day began. She found a lot of comfort in those classes as much of the focus was on meditation rather than trying to solve the mystery of the girl in the silk scarf, a bit of paranoia she had blossomed. She also developed quite a bond with Katherine, though she remained annoyed of the quick paced conversations and often felt as if she had run thousands of miles when they were done. Questions about her scarf often came up, but quickly subdued with Katherine’s hysteria. Marietta eventually realised that Katherine had little concern with huge details, and began risking showing her face when in their room. She did it of course having pasted her face with a large bulk of make-up, enough to strangle her pores. She kept the scarf at the ready though, hung over her neck.

In addition to yoga, she enjoyed arts and crafts. She was horrendous at drawing and painting, though her first drawing that she completed that week found its place in the hall of fame, as the patients called it. Marietta wondered if it was actually the hall of shame when she saw the type of drawings that were up there. Tom had congratulated her on the success, though she could tell he was teasing her. At times like those she was grateful for her scarf, because she wondered just how wide she was smiling. Katherine kept nudging her about her crush for Tom though Marietta kept denying it. She knew it was just that, because Tom was older than her and he was a second year Healing student and was way too cute to be interested in someone with a scarf wrapped around their hideous dimpled face. Katherine also teased her about Mesut.

Mesut was a boy Marietta first noticed in Coping Skills class. He was very mysterious. He always wore variations of sweaters with very long sleeves concealing even his hands. At first glance she figured that it was just too difficult for him to get clothes for his height, but once his frame was digested she realised that was not the case. His clothes seemed suited to someone like Tom who was well over six feet, but Mesut didn’t full the outfit. His sweaters seemed to weight him down, and his pants were much looser than track pants. He was a lot leaner than the bulk of clothes gave him credit for, and he was just below six feet, equalling Marietta’s height at five feet and eight inches. In addition to the over abundance of clothes, he had a surplus of unkempt hair. He had thick, big, black hair and was far from clean shaven. His facial hair however was very thin, giving away its unfledged nature.

They were yet to meet officially. They discovered each other when going around in circles about how other patients coped with their issues. Mesut refused to speak about his in front of everyone to which the teacher respected. Marietta borrowed a page from his book as well because she definitely did not want to talk about hers as most of her new friends had no idea what her problem was. That had drawn an inquisitive eye from Mesut, but when she returned one he looked away hurriedly and kept his head bent for the rest of the class. That became a bit of a trend over the next two weeks between them. During their Ways to Manage Anxiety classes, she had found herself studying his mystique. She had not planned on attending, but Katherine urged her to join her and Dr. Bridge had also suggested that the class would help with any insecurity she may have as a result of her condition. Mesut had caught her eye again, and looked very angrily at her before turning away. Marietta averted her attention hastily and refused to look in his direction. She also saw him laughing too at her hall of fame picture, but when she turned to him with a smile he tensed and turned away burying himself in conversation with another ward member, who she could tell he did not know as the person looked at him rather awkwardly. She wondered if she had an aggressive look, because she knew he could not tell that she was smiling through her veil.

Perhaps the strangest thing that Marietta thought was that Katherine was a regular at the Depression classes. Katherine was very friendly, in fact everyone she introduced Marietta too as her best friend. She was very popular around the halls, even with the patients that kept only to themselves. She had introduced Marietta to a number of people who were quite nice. Marietta found that a lot of the younger people around her age had a love for the plump, balding Andy. Andy was one of those members that seemed the most normal. He always had a story to tell, and he was always with his three other friends, Doug, Phil and Stu. He had warned Marietta to never question Doug because he always winded up taking offence. Phil, he warned was easily attracted to women. He flirted with most of the girls on the ward, including the doctors and even slicked his hair back before kissing Marietta’s hand when they met. Stu however constantly asked them all to be silent because he had work to finish, though Marietta could see he did nothing except think. In addition to that, Andy seemed very close to Mesut of all the others. It often reminded her of Harry Potter and Hagrid as she had seen in her second year. Andy would always be taking part in some activity, such as table tennis, basketball and swimming, however as she learnt from Tom, they had to keep it quiet because not all of the other patients were medically cleared to do some of those things.

Marietta realised that depression was a key issue with her, as Dr. Bridge had pointed out in their second session. Obviously to her, her mother was at fault, but she soon uncovered that her father was equally as responsible. He was always the cool parent. Marietta learnt that she had not fully gotten over her oedipal complex when her father left her, which explained why she never looked for a serious relationship at Hogwarts despite the many boys she had dated. It also explained why she coped so well with Edward Pattinson ending things with her so suddenly because she had subconsciously assumed all relationships would end with her pain. It explained why she spent all her time with Cho as well. Even though she was the “red hair friend of Cho” the main attention was never on her as much, just the way she liked it.

Her father always excused her in comparison to her mother’s strict parenting. He allowed her to go to bed later, gave her junk food late into the night and taught her some spells that she could cast without a wand. One of the happiest memories that Marietta had when she learned how to conjure a Patronus was the memory depicted by the picture she kept in her room. The one she often found herself crying in front of. She was just about eight years old, dressed up in a red flowered blouse with red shoes. Her mother ensured her clothes matched always. Her father had helped her get dressed and had put on a pair of white socks. Her mother had fumed when they reached for the portrait shot and realised Marietta was wearing as she put it, “boy’s sneaker socks”. She also remembered her father telling her they would get ice cream after if she stopped pouting and smiled. She refused, but then her father fed her the line of her face staying that way forever, and she would resemble her mom if she continued doing it. She smiled, and her father pressed his cheeks against hers for the picture. Her mother was definitely not satisfied with their choice of pose and scowled for the picture. A successful Patronus thus resulted much to her delight.

She found it strange that she held onto that memory even though her father had abandoned her. Dr. Bridge however shared the insight that he represented her team in the war against her mother, and victory at that as she probably was jealous of their relationship given that she was probably still facing her oedipal complex at that young of an age. His support made her victorious against her mother. He loved her more and hated the evil witch of her fairy tale.

Her picture that hung on the wall of fame also supported the theory that Dr. Grant had put forth. She had drawn a house with windows, doors, a driveway, lawn and even a mail box that said M.E. The door and the windows represented that Marietta preferred isolation and only greeted the world on her own time. Marietta thought that to be a bit weird because she enjoyed what her popularity had gotten her at school, until Emily suggested it was that way now subconsciously because of her scarf. She chose to isolate herself by not being seen. Emily even questioned Marietta about her life at school. It had changed a lot now. She had gone from being one of the most beautiful and popular girls in school to hideous and hated. She discovered that she did segregate herself from everyone when she did come out of the hospital wing with SNEAK etched across her face. She had taken a hiatus from classes and stayed locked in her dormitory for the remaining few months of school. On her own terms, it meant coming out when everyone else was off at Hogsmeade and spending her day on the bank of the Great Lake, because the younger years remained behind on the castle grounds.

The driveway represented a route of escape for her in addition to being route of people getting to her. Anybody coming into her life had to do so according to her rules. It was applied to a boy she met at Hogwarts in her first year and had classes with. She found him attractive and everyone said he liked her, but Marietta in her fame had grown used to the stereotype of boys asking her out and as a result remained just a classmate to him. The lawn was not part of the drawing as Dr. Bridge pointed out, but it was what Marietta thought was needed in a house. It showed either her attention to detail or her desire to achieve more than what she had set. Such a case was instilled in her from her mother: always aiming to achieve more than your goals. Finally the mailbox marked M.E. meant Marietta Edgecombe and not Mrs. Edgecombe or Miss Edgecombe as Dr Bridge analysed. When asked about it, Marietta exclaimed that she hated people calling her Miss Edgecombe as well because it always made her think about her mother. As the box read Marietta Edgecombe instead of Edgecombe meant also that Marietta had indeed chosen to isolate herself than share her house with someone, which again related to her way of dealing with the loss of someone she loved, her father.

Uncovering such information certainly proved to distract Marietta from her concerns about her looks, at least in the sessions. She still took a few moments to examine her reflection from a glittering picture that hung in Emily’s office, and she duly checked that her scarf was wrapped properly before setting out. Emily didn’t expect a miracle over four sessions, but her plan had already gone into motion. She now understood her client a lot more from an internal perspective, and now she thought she was better equipped to address her primary concern, the haunting factor of her story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Chapter 3


	3. Mastering the arts.

It was just after nine in the morning as Katherine and Marietta set off from their room. Marietta noticed that she had been a lot different since returning from yoga that morning. She was not speaking as rapidly as usual and it allowed Marietta to talk about a number of things. Now as they walked along the narrow corridor, which connected several rooms in addition to their own behind them, it became evident that something was wrong. Katherine walked silently beside her, following the terrazzo floor ahead. Marietta studied her, making out the traces of a frown on her matte face. The usual colour that radiated from her cheerful demeanour was long gone.

Taken aback by this change in persona, Marietta asked without the fear that usually came with the rapid fire responses, “You all right Katherine?”

She remained unhinged, staring blankly ahead as they strolled. Marietta nudged her, drawing her gaze. “Marietta... I am sorry! Were you speaking to me?”

“Yes, you been rather quiet,”

“I am, my apologies, I am feeling a bit sad...”

“Oh no, I am sorry. Perhaps you would you like to talk about...” Marietta’s voiced turned into a heavy overwhelming exhaustion as they passed by the reception desk and Tom turned to wave. He was talking to a group of people his age dressed with their white Healing coats. They paid no attention to her however and continued chatting. She could tell they were friends of his.

“It’s nothing to talk about, I don’t know why...” said Katherine looking back at Tom and his friends, “but don’t worry about it, maybe you should worry about Tom!”

“No, I am sorry Katherine, I am listening to you. I was just waving at him is all, you sure you’re all right?” Marietta asked again, bewildered that she had not spoken more than a few words since morning.

“I just remembered I have to go see that nice Dr. Emily...”

“Oh I wasn’t aware you had sessions with her...”

“Yes, sometimes, did she not mention me?”

“No... Yes she did...” Marietta added seeing a deeper frown being engraved into the one already residing on Katherine’s face.

“I figured you might forget since she probably focuses on you... but I have to get going. I will go see her now!”

“You won’t be coming to art?”

“I suppose not, look see here...” Katherine removed her backpack and opened the zip.

“Well, shall I will walk you then...”

“Don’t be silly, you will be late... here, I got this permission slip, Tom came and gave it to me while you were in the shower, he seemed rather saddened that he didn’t see you. Blimey, here we are! Show this to Dr. Lawson for me?”

“Yes, okay.” Marietta accepted the note.

“You go, I will be... fine...” Katherine walked off looking gloomily at the floor.

“See you after okay?”

Katherine continued dragging herself without responding. Marietta, confused, looked after her until she disappeared around the corner.

Marietta blushed as Phil expressed his fascination for her hair colour. She pondered how to get him to stop with the compliments, but Andy arrived on the scene chasing him off to focus on his work, before apologising to her on his behalf. He then studied her painting for some time when a gnarled expression daubed his face. He stated bluntly, “Horrendous...”

Marietta looked at him, not the least bit offended. Instead she was surprised that someone in this asylum actually doubted the legendary hall of famer. She smiled to herself. Hilarious!

“Seriously, much more is expected from you after you made the hall of fame...” he said with a look of serious concern.

“Oh... Well, I...”

“What is that?” he asked critically, pointing at the two stick figures on the canvas facing each other.

Marietta observed the scene, somewhat embarrassed that she was unable to draw people. The stick figures were both supposed to represent Harry Potter and the Dark Lord, and she pasted a green beam emanating from the wand of the dark lord and a red one from Harry’s. “Err- it’s this... evil Dark Lord...”

Andy’s face recoiled as his eyes shot onto Marietta with immense plea, “the Dark Lord?”

“Yes...”

“And...”

“That is Harry Potter of course...”

“Ah yes... I see... You think he is telling the truth?” he asked, completely bewildered.

“Yes I do; he got proof as well...” she responded in an obvious undertone. She reflected on the events of the prior school year, slightly embarrassed that she was among the many who doubted the evidence.

“Oh right, so this is the story you plan to write later for creative writing?”

“Yeah, I was thinking it would be...”

“That would be an epic tale, but this work definitely won’t do justice to the story...” Andy placed  
both his hands around the canvas board and hoisted it up.

“What are you?”

“Come this way Marietta, trust me...” He stumbled ahead outweighed by the board.

Marietta looked around, noticing a number of the patients he walked by laughing amongst themselves at her painting. Dr. Lawson, at the front of the class looked up without any disquiet, before returning to scribbling into his parchment.

“Over here!” Andy called loudly drawing more gazes from patients. 

Marietta forced herself up and followed after him grateful of course, that people were more concerned with Andy’s mission than her face.

Andy grunted as he dropped the base of the board with a loud tang upon the desk. Whoever’s desk it was she heard them yelp, shielded behind the board.

“I am sorry,” said Andy, nervously looking behind it. “Your story sounds interesting Marietta, but you look like you could use some help,”

“That would be nice,” she said, rolling her eyes uninterestedly, before suddenly widening them when Mesut’s head popped up from behind the board. He beamed at Andy before noticing her, and sternly adjusted his face. There was little time to don this mask though, as his cheeks flushed red.

“Err...” he started.

“Mesut, help Marietta fix this painting please.” Andy said.

“Um... okay...” 

Andy walked off releasing the board. It slammed upon the desk. Mesut quickly held the top keeping it from falling off the table. Marietta held the other end and tugged at it with difficulty. Mesut smiled, “Let me help...” He pushed the board towards her dragging it on the desk amidst the grating noise until it was centred. Wiping a drop of sweat off of his brow, he looked where Andy had walked off too. Marietta directed her gaze and saw Andy turning away with what appeared to be a thumbs-up.

“Err... hi...” said Mesut, with an indication of unease at Marietta. A stern smile formed below his thick beard again, as his black eyes shot back to his desk studying the canvas.

“Hello,” Marietta said.

“Mess... Mess... Mesut, I am Mesut...” he said, awkwardly keeping his head focussed on his desk. His face was not alleviated of the callous expression.

“I am,” smiling beneath her scarf, “Mari... Mari... Marietta...”

Mesut tensed once more, his smile disappeared and he glowered at her.

She realised again that he could not tell she was smiling. “I am only joking you know, it’s is a nice name,”

“Oh... you have a... lovely name too,” he stated, eyes plastered at the painting now.

“Oh thanks,” she added, “har har...” for Mesut to know she was only teasing. Her thoughts flashed upon Dolores Umbridge’s “hem hem”.

Mesut beamed once more in response, keeping his gaze locked on the painting, “What is this?”

Marietta explained her story and the incident with Andy.

“Oh, Andy thinks I am a good artist...” Mesut said, embarrassed.

“Oh, I am sure you are...”

“I don’t think so...”

“You’ve seen my drawings, yeah?”

“You made the hall of...” Mesut smirked, “fame...”

Marietta rolled her eyes, “I saw you laughing at it the other day,”

“Oh, no I was talking about something else!” Despite being veiled by his facial hair guilt radiated on his face.

“Its fine, I mean, I know it isn’t exactly... Monet...”

“You know Monet?” he asked with admiration.

“Well don’t you?”

“Yeah, but... most Wizards don’t know Muggles.”

“Well we have two pictures of his at home. I also heard about him in Muggle studies... ”

“I actually really love the work he did, given that he didn’t have any magic to work with, and just the impressions he got of a scene. Do you know that if he was painting something in a particular light and the time faded, he would pause and resume when the light is similar again?”

“I really didn’t... but I guess that is what they meant by impressionism?”

“Yes. Exactly! Not just Monet though but there are a ton of others even impressionist writers!”

“Let me guess, like writing based on a particular circumstance...?”

“Yes! So instead of painting it... they write it. Like this class we have today!”

“Oh, you sure know a lot about this, yes?”

“Yeah, I am quite enjoying this session, I don’t know what I am writing yet, but I would love to base it off of my painting. As for you, you already seem to have a plan, so I guess you won’t mind delaying in touching up...” Mesut blushed and looked away from Marietta, “your work...”

Boys! “I would, but this is the best work I can do unfortunately...”

“You wear make-up?” asked Mesut returning his eye contact, blushing before tensing up once again when he noticed Marietta’s eyes narrow suspiciously.

“Sometimes...”

“Well, art is like make-up! You have to apply the right amount to what you’re doing... so, just think about that.”

“My impression of my story is mainly on the two characters...”

“But how do we differentiate between them and what is that big green wall in the background...”

“Okay, well... this represents the maze... for the final task in the... Tri-Wizard tournament...”

“Oh interesting, then... that is all right, you painted it like a wall too, thus we know it is difficult to escape...”

“Oh yeah sure,” Marietta had not planned that. She accidentally drowned her paint brush in the green. 

“But how do we tell the difference with the two?”

“Well... the green is the colour of the... killing curse.”

“Oh so then he is the bad one...” Mesut pointed at the stick figure whose wand was emanating green.

“Harry Potter’s disarming spell, which he said he used that night. I saw it flash red once too when he showed us, so the red is him...”

“Oh... well this is very interesting then!”

“You think so?”

“Well yeah, it isn’t Monet as you said... ha...”

“Ha... oh shut up...”

Mesut frazzled again before Marietta relieved him by stating she was making a joke.

“May I see your piece, Mesut?”

“Um... no...” he said blandly.

“Oh come on...”

“I...”

“Come on mate, have you seen the hall of fame? I haven’t seen anything signed by you up there, so you got to be good.”

“It’s stupid.”

“Please?”

“Okay, well, I haven’t worked out the story yet, so don’t ask okay?”

“Sure, you have my word.”

Mesut chuckled before inviting her to come across to his workstation.

Marietta imagined her face embedded into her palms when she saw the painting on his canvas. It started with the upper body of a girl. The detail was clear enough to announce the person’s hands resting on a shaded circle without any contents.

“That is supposed to be a head... I just reached it. Usually save it for last.”

Marietta stared at the drawing before asking, “Is she crying?”

“Crying? No... I was thinking along the lines of thinking... like I do sometimes...” He sat upon his stool placing his palms on his chin, “but crying is interesting...”

“What is the story?”

“I don’t know... I am just painting an impression...”

“Oh... well it is really nice... the hands look real.”

“I am glad you like it...”

“I wish I could paint people. That’s why I resort to stick figures...”

“Well, if you like...” Mesut shuffled through his bag and pulled out a sketch pad, “I can show  
you...”

The next few moments were very constructive as Mesut demonstrated to Marietta how to hold her quill when drawing. Despite her failed efforts at attempting to grasp the concept, he refused to hold her hand and show her and chose to theoretically explain it to her. He would always avoid direct eye contact with her when describing what had to be done. At times, Marietta wondered if he was uncomfortable around her, as his body language also read his discomfort. He kept adjusting his sleeves, but she figured that was only because it kept getting in the way when he was drawing as his overly lengthy sleeves often shelved his hands. He kept rolling it just on the wrist, constantly looking at it and Marietta when she studied how he was holding his quill. Eventually she focussed all of her attention on the parchment to make him easy. She thought she was getting it, though her eyes and nose on the character’s face looked distorted. Mesut appraised it for a while radiating with a twinkle of satisfaction.

“Well, very good for a first try,”

“Thanks...” 

“Do you think perhaps you would like to try painting now?”

“Oh... I don’t know...”

“It would be fun... look!” Mesut removed his parchment from the wooden rack and replaced it with  
a new one.

“Ok, what do I do?”

“Okay well, you just have to dip. NO! Not so much!”

“Oh...” Marietta said as she raised the paint brush out of the black, dripping heavily back into the paint can. She laughed.

“Fine just rub it on the rim.”

“Okay...” Marietta did until the black was dripping lesser than before.

“Okay, so you’re doing the hair?”

“Yeah...”

“Well right, all you got to do is dab it in the centre...”

“The whole thing?”

“Yeah, in the centre and then you just brush it off...”

“All right... like...” Marietta slammed the brush against the paper spewing drops of black paint around her right sleeve, “...bugger!”

“It happens... you’re a painter now,” Mesut snorted as he tossed her a towel.

“Yeah,” Marietta said as she dabbed it against her long sleeve, oblivious to it rolling up on her forearm.

“Right so just slide it like...” Mesut took the paint brush and stretched his hand to the paper before readjusting his sleeve, “Take the tip and just tap the black a paste it wherever like...”

Marietta observed the exhibition before he handed her back the brush, “Like this?”

“Yes exactly! Do it until you get it shaded around...”

Marietta stroked a few times uneasily to approvals from Mesut. There was however one moment of panic as she pressed into the smudge on the paper.

“Right... oh, what is that?” inquisitively Mesut looked at her forearms. Nervously he cast a glance back at her face, but as her startled eyes met his he grabbed the towel she placed on the desk and acted as if he was intending to use it.

“Huh?” Marietta’s mind flickered to her face quickly, relieved that her scarf was intact. She followed where his dark eyes originally fell. “Oh that! That’s nothing...” she said. Her sleeve had gotten stuck on her forearm. There were darkened, reddish, green lines running from underneath her sleeves down to her wrists. Mesut scouted her as she adjusted her sleeves back. Seeing his intrigue she asked, “What?”

“Oh nothing, I am sorry...” he said. His face turned astringed once more before he turned to the front of the class as Professor Lawson was walking around. 

“What?” she asked again, perplexed at his unease.

“No, it was the paint that you splattered, thought it was something else...”

“Okay...” she lingered in her speech. She knew what he saw.

“All right everyone our time slot is up now, so we will finish up for the day, good work everyone,”Dr. Lawson announced at the centre of the class. 

“Oh, well... um, thank you Mesut...” Marietta said as she folded her parchment.

“Oh it was my pleasure, you got it in you!”

“Thanks but if it wasn’t for you... you are really a great artist.”

“You really think so?” he seemed pleased.

“No,” she tried to lighten her gander.

“Oh...” he responded dully, oblivious once again to her hidden smile.

“I know so,” she said sheepishly realising he missed the tone completely.

Luckily, Mesut grimaced approvingly. He stammered, before taking a huge leap onto the edge.  
“Well I don’t know if you would like to... Well, there is not much to do around here when these classes are done, would you like to... I don’t know, meet up with me?”

Marietta’s heart melted when Mesut bent down staring at the floor. The stereotype of boys that usually asked her out carried a level of confidence with them. This was cute though, “Mesut that would be...”

“Just like, after dinner... we could talk?” he interrupted.

“Yes, that would be great for this evening?”

“Yeah, if that is okay with you,”

“It is.”

“All right well... this evening...” his face turned scarlet.

“Well done lad!”

Mesut’s face swelled up with horror. With a raised eyebrow, and hoping to not make Mesut’s face  
any worse she turned to where the voice came from.

“Andy would be so proud, I am proud... I knew you would do it!” Phil grinned widely and walked off with a hop.

“Have you met Phil Marietta?” Mesut asked, trying to distract her. “He is kind of... not all there...”

“Oh...” she smiled and decided to not dwell on what he said for the sake of her friend, “well, if you ask me Mesut, almost everybody here is “not all there”...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Chapter 4


	4. An unexpected surprise.

Katherine was definitely not all there when Marietta returned to their room after lunch. She entered in with a spring in her step following a greeting from Tom moments before. She shut the door behind her, but her hubris soon found its end with the melancholic chill that greeted her.

Katherine was on her bed lying flat on her stomach with a pillow covering her face. Marietta stared for a moment, before she heard the muffled sniffles coming from underneath. She stood sojourned to her spot, dropping her bag perfunctorily to the floor. Gathering herself, she approached the bed and sat beside her.

“Katherine? It’s me. Everything all right?” she asked with extreme gaiety in her words. Her roommate shifted slightly on the bed, but kept herself well secured. Marietta briefly remembered herself just a few months ago when she laid in the hospital wing hiding herself from her visitors, wanting them to all just disappear.

She dropped a hand on Katherine’s shoulder, feeling her tense underneath her soft palm. “Katherine? What happened, I am so sorry whatever it is... please, tell me...” she was interrupted abruptly, by a sudden violent flinch by her roommate that sent her hand flying off of her. Startled, Marietta eased herself towards the edge of the bed. Stammering to buy herself some time, she observed Katherine shivering. “You’re trembling...want me to turn it down?” Marietta picked up the air condition remote from on the nightstand, and after carefully studying it she raised the temperature. She risked placing a hand on Katherine’s quaking back again.  
She spoke again, “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

Katherine remained unmoved. From her breathing intensity, Marietta figured she was done crying for now. “Katherine it will be... all right,” she added, pouting at her choice of words. “I am here. You know you can tell me anything...”

Katherine remained silent, tightening the grip on her pillow.

“What happened? Did something happen?” Marietta lingered in thought and speech for some time. She had thought she was good at this, she helped Cho through such a difficult time, what could she possibly do here?

“Professor Lawson gave me your assignment for today, but he said you could work on mine with me if you wanted. It was really fun that...” She paused as if expecting an answer before resuming, “I also painted today... with Mesut. He is so gifted you know? Andy told him I needed some help, it’s amazing actually, that Andy told him I needed some help. It’s amazing that he appreciates good art... despite thinking I am the best here... I...”

Katherine readjusted again. Her head was out from the pillow, but she was sitting with her legs folded now with her back facing away from her roommate. Marietta stretched forward to look at her.  
“Katherine...”

The sobs came back, Katherine no longer could hold it in. Marietta slightly touched her, but Katherine responded with another aggressive reaction, before covering her face and sobbing heavily.

Marietta stood up, startled, “Oh my, Katherine...” Katherine remained in tears, before grabbing the pillow and burying her face under it again. She screamed loudly into it, and resumed her tears. Sorrow and fear filled Marietta’s heart as she looked at the most blissful person she had ever encountered, laying there with nothing but pain. Marietta juddering now began speaking in haste, “You want to be alone? All right, well... I will be right outside... if you need anything. Do tell me all right, Katherine? I will be right here, I am here for you...” 

She delayed hoping for a response, but nothing came, except Katherine turning herself into the foetal position hugging the pillow tightly again, sobbing even more. Marietta retreated back out of the room after retrieving her bag. She waited for a moment but, still no response came. She exited the room hastily, and sped down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Chapter 5


	5. Seeing a different colour.

“Marietta,” Tom said beaming as her rush slowed on approaching the reception desk. Fatigue drained her, more so at the look of concern that failingly attempted to carve onto his pretty face, “are you all right?”

“Yes...” she took a moment to stare at his bright face, breaking out of the trance when she heard the giggles of his friends standing behind him at the other side of the desk. “Katherine... I... have never seen her like that, she is crying and...”

“Oh she is?”

“I just got back to the room and...”

“Oh, well see Marietta, she suffers from depression as well because of her anxiety... Dr. Bridge well, has slowly been helping her... but apparently she gets really depressed which is why they have sessions very often. We thought you two sharing a room would help her get some company as well,”

“Oh... so what do I do?”

“Well, when she breaks down like this, she wants to be alone, all I can advise you to do is that you let her know you’re there?”

“Yeah, I told her all of that...”

“All right, well don’t worry... she will come around...”

“Okay... thanks, keep an eye on her for me?”

“Yes definitely... enjoy your class... I will call Dr. Bridge and inform her though.”

“Yeah, thanks Dr. Tom...”

“I am not one yet, but thank you for that, Miss Edgecombe...”

Forcing a smile to deflect the scowl forming at her face she walked away.

It was shortly after four in the afternoon when Marietta returned to her room. She was greeted, outside the door, by Dr. Bridge exiting.

“Hello Dr. Emily!” she said cheerfully.

“Marietta... so nice to see you,” responded Emily with a smile.

“Same here...”

“You would be heading in now right? Well Tom informed me what happened, I spoke to Katherine.  
I think maybe you should just let her be for a bit, would you mind?”

“Oh well, I understand yes. I will just, it’s nearly dinner I will just... find something to do until later.”

“Yeah, okay. Katherine never misses dinner, not since her last attack... anyway, you and I have a session tomorrow as well...”

“Yes I will be by...”

“See you tomorrow then, have a nice evening.”

“Dr.... how long should I give her?”

“Fear not Marietta, she will come around soon, you will know.”

Dr. Bridge walked off leaving Marietta pondering what she was to do.

Marietta breathed a sigh of relief as she looked up from her make-up magazine. She had read all fifty of them stacked on the table at the waiting area by the reception desk. The time was nearing six. It felt like hours upon hours she thought. Tom was not even working anymore to distract her thoughts. He usually disappeared after four to attend to ward rounds or classes she presumed. She was happy though that she did not have to talk to him with that stupid scarf wrapped around her face. She had been through the magazines, and got some really nice make-up strategies to employ. She knew that she required a thick coat of make-up on her face, and though she did that, it looked abundant and pasted on. However, some of the styles she saw would definitely look great even if she wore that much. She reflected on what she learned earlier about gently stroking and gliding her paint brush on paintings. Perhaps she could add her own style. There would still be the problem though of actually covering her blisters, which she knew was nothing easy to do, even with ten times the amount of the make-up she uses now.

Marietta raised the magazine hurriedly to her face as she saw that familiar glowing smile enter into the hall.

“Tom, you’re back?” said the elderly woman now working at the desk.

“You don’t sound too happy to see me Rosie...” he smirked.

“Oh nonsense, you work too hard is all...”

“I am glad someone thinks that way, those Professors don’t think we are human beings... I just came by to drop this off, I left with it...” Tom placed a manila folder on the desk.

“Oh all right, I was looking for that...”

“Yes, well I will see you tomorrow then...”

“Going to class now?”

“No... I think I need a mental health day...”

Rosietta chuckled bidding Tom a good evening.  
“Marietta?” Tom inquired.  
Marietta sternly dropped the magazine slamming it on her lap. She stiffened as she looked at him. “Hullo... you’re still here?”

Tom paused, as his smile grew wider, “You don’t sound too happy to see me either...”

“No of course not... I was... wondering where you go off to.”

“Oh well,” Tom strolled over to her, she readjusted herself on the couch systematically checking  
that her face was covered, “I go to school here,”

“In the hospital?”

“Well yeah, but classes are usually held at the college just to the back,”

“Oh, I didn’t know...”

“What are you doing?”

“I am... Dr. Bridge told me to give Katherine some space, so I am waiting until dinner actually.”

“Well, I am actually going to get some food...”

“But the food court is right...”

“Well it’s just been a few weeks. You’re probably enjoying the food...”

“Oh, no I was...” she chuckled.

“Well, why don’t you join me, there is a food court at the school... a lot nicer food.”

“Oh thanks, I can’t though...”

“Sure you can, can’t she Rosie?”

“Miss Edgecombe? Yeah, I don’t see why not...” Rosie responded before adjusting her glasses to  
investigate the folder. 

“Oh, no I mean, I shouldn’t...”

“Why come on...”

“It’s against the rules for patients to leave...” she put up her last line of defence.

“Luckily, Rosietta and I are capable of letting them go once we accompany them. I also think your  
condition isn’t that severe that I will need to watch you all the time...” he chuckled.

“I don’t....”

“Go on dear,” Rosietta interjected, “Tom will be held responsible should anything happen to you...” she teased.

“That’s reassuring,” joked Tom. “What do you say Marietta?”

“I... could do with seeing a different colour than this white...”


	6. Outside the wards.

Marietta’s heart warmed towards Tom as she beheld his light green eyes looking back at her. He walked ahead of her and waited for her while he kept the door opened. She bent her head quirkily, frantically exiting through the grotesquely engraved doorway. She was uncertain whether her peculiarity was for her overwhelming crush on Tom or if it had to do with the fact that he was looking at her shielding her face beneath her beautiful checker Burberry scarf, wondering what monstrous beast awaited him. She directed her attention to the outside surroundings now, as the glum atmosphere surrounded St. Mungo’s Hospital. Shielding her fingers into the confines of her long overcoat she studied the setting. The hospital was vast and morose, as any hospital would be. Several families walked in a bunch towards the various entrances, depressed and oblivious of events happening around them. That, with the atmospheric tumult of ambulance sirens added further to the first appearance of the hospital’s exterior. Marietta felt rather nervously as Tom walked up beside her. He gestured and told her to follow him. She expressed her feelings to the surroundings when Tom inquired how she felt to finally be outside.

She was grateful to be away from the brightly lit, white walls of the wards, but she remained nervous whenever she encountered other people walking about the road. Perhaps the only thing that comforted her was the cool chilly waves that cut through the air disrupting her still curly auburn hair. Most of the passerby’s seemed impressed by her attire, which made sense when Tom explained just how hot the day was earlier. It bemused Marietta just how cold it was now as she squinted into the sky feeling the dimming sun rays scattering about her face, or rather the only uncovered parts of them. Tom struck a conversation on the sunset while they strolled around the left side of the hospital. The gloomy feeling followed the entire premises. Marietta, surprisingly found herself feeling contented that she stayed in the psych wards more often.

Tom led her around the back where the depressive atmosphere followed in pursuit. There was a large red wall that ran to the right side, where Marietta saw some more extensions to the hospital. Tom pointed out that the one she was looking at was the wards. From the outside, Marietta saw that it was a five story building. On the outside, she saw several fire escapes along the edge of the windows. To the very top she noted two galleries beside each other, one just a few feet higher. She contemplated getting up there one day, shifting the thought from her head immediately when Tom studied her. She fell beneath his gaze, thankful for the mask she bore.

“The view must be exceptional from up there huh?” she asked.

“It is... but we don’t let patients get up there...”

“Yeah...” she pondered if he was aware that Andy often spoke about his exploits in the hospital, often about his adventures into the forbidden areas.

Tom questioned if she had learned to disapparate in her sixth year as he removed his wand. Marietta nodded as she groped within her overcoat pocket, wincing as she realised she had been relieved of her wand by Dr. Bridge as a safety precaution. Tom smiled as she informed him, but he gestured at the wall. He patted it with his wand and a yellow glow formed around it the size of a standard doorway. Tom told her to step in first. She was too used to magic to be stunned by this, but she always felt awkward whenever she had to walk through a wall. She nodded and stepped into the barrier.

Her first conjecture was that she was in a blissful environment. There were groups of students walking about wearing long white cloaks amiss of the ones dressed casually. In front of Marietta was a two story building painted yellow, just outside housed a huge sign, Healing School of St Mungo’s Student Administrative Council. At the sides were two firs swaying with the heavy breeze that followed through the portal with her. Marietta circled around to get a better view of the place. There was a walkway from where she stood, that bent around the right of the building. Behind her was the brick red wall she had come through and to the left of the building was several fences. Peering through, Marietta made out shirtless students shielding the pool before them. She looked to the boys, who to her disappointment did not keep her vision. She heard a loud crack and saw Tom appearing beside her. He smiled and interviewed her on her thoughts of his school. He led her to the left, where Marietta saw several edifices connected and disconnected along the path separated only by green pastures and trees, shielding from the sunny rays, which had now subsided as day was passing into night. The buildings looked Muggle in design, but their architecture was vivacious. A number of students walked along their path, Marietta bent her head as a couple of girls studied them, even though their focus was on Tom. He responded with a half smile and a nod. The girls giggled behind. Marietta gave a raised eyebrow to Tom who was blushing immensely.

The food court was not that far, though Marietta had a heavy heart to leave the outside. As embarrassed as she felt with her scarf wrapped around her face, many onlookers seemed disappointed that they were not dressed for the weather and commended her. However, indoors, she was certain she would turn a few heads. The food court was large and circled by different food outlets, and like the one at the wards it was multicoloured, brightly lit and buzzing with people, the only similarity being the white coats worn by some of the Healing students. Tom constantly asked Marietta what she was having. Despite the initial idea of getting their own things before finding a table, Marietta felt rather pleased that Tom was willing to have whatever she was. After a few moments of searching, she settled upon a stall with the same name of one of her favourite stores in Hogsmeade, Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop. Marietta’s face turned as red as her auburn hair does when highlighted by florescent lights as she approached it with him. Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop was usually famous for dating, and here she was with Tom. Ha! Boyfriend!

“You sure you don’t want to be eating that now?” Tom asked Marietta as pieces of apple custard pie left his fork.

Marietta sat across the circular table, leaning forward upon her elbows. Two bags with boxes stood in front of her with a small cup closed at the lid. “It’s all right... I will... get this back to Katherine, she usually likes us to eat together,” Marietta lied. The truth was that she ate solemnly by herself in the corner of her room. She tried her best to eat in Katherine’s absence, but in her presence she would loosen her scarf and eat beneath it. It stirred several questions from Katherine, but she ultimately dropped the topics when other things came to mind.

“You and Katherine are quite close lately...” Tom stated.

“Yeah, we are...” Marietta reflected on their friendship. Their conversations usually went one sided, but she had to admit, Katherine seemed very warm to her. They had grown quite fond of each other that it reminded Marietta of when she first met Cho.

“It’s truly amazing she never gets that way with anybody.”

“Really?” she questioned, “but she is friendly with everyone...”

“Well, she is very friendly no doubt, but I will say she often is distant. She interacts, but she never gets close to anyone.”

“While we are close, it is complex see... I don’t know a lot about her. She never focuses much, I don’t know her... I know what she does in the morning, what she expects to do in the evening or during the day, but mostly, that could be learnt from seeing what she does. Our conversations are often one sided, I do a lot of answering. However, she can do a lot of answering when I ask enough questions. It’s like if I truly dedicate time to speak with her, she can really engage me.”

“I see, well it’s still good. She has been doing quite fine lately,”

“Except this evening, I have never seen her that way...”

“Guess we all have moments like that...” Tom acknowledged, biting another piece of apple pie off of his fork.

“I guess... was she always that way?”

“When I first started working there, she was always by herself and steering clear from other people,”

“Really? She is so...”

“Friendly with everyone right, well that’s Dr. Bridge’s work got her to interact with others. Following that, well she has been really happy, more so with you, she haven’t been alone in weeks or zoning out others as you have described tonight, so I guess it comes and goes.”

“Oh, I wonder what causes it...”

“That information Dr. Bridge has not disclosed to any of us, well, I reckon the superiors at the wards know, so they know what to expect from her...”

They were interrupted by one of Tom’s friends, distracting Marietta from fear of what he meant by “expect from her”. Was she violent by nature, which would explain the harsh reaction earlier?

“... Marietta...” She realised Tom was talking about her. She looked up to see a girl looking at her rather contemptuously.

“The girl with the... Oh from the hospital?” she asked.

“Yes...” said Tom.

“Oh hello, I am Stephanie... our class actually have a round with you in a few days. Dr. Bridge requests us there. I think we should be able to help.”

“Oh, thanks...” she said taking Stephanie’s hand. Her eyes scattered away as Stephanie peered deeply at her. Oh stop looking at me you toad.

“Stephanie... we will chat later, I have to get her back...”

“Oh all right Tom, well... I hope to see you at the party tonight...”

“I may drop by... see you...”

“Bye, and nice to meet you Marietta...”

“You too...”

Tom returned Marietta’s gaze to him with a nudge. They had long left the food court, but Marietta had not realised how far they had come. She was lost in thought, as she pondered about her situation. They were summoning young Healing students to tend to her ailments, which meant that none of the other “professionals” had conjured up anything more. She was losing hope. What luck would they have if the greatest of Healers could not help her?

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh nothing...”

“I know something is. Tell me...”

“No...”

“It’s not Stephanie is it? She didn’t mean anything by asking you... I know she comes on strong...”

“Oh no,” She did not appreciate the look of judgment skittered on Stephanie’s pretty face, nor the look of interest that shone in her eyes when she stared at Tom, but her problem just rested on her interpretation of her words. “No, I am just a bit frustrated... that I have been here so long now, and they haven’t solved anything yet, and now they are calling on students...”

“Oh.”

“No offense of course to you Tom,” Marietta added.

“None taken, I understand. Look I am sure it will be fine. We’re all learning from these doctors here. Dr. Grant wouldn’t have put us in on this if she didn’t think we were good enough. I, myself, have done some research into this condition. I will find you that cure Marietta. I am part of the group on that round. I will try my best... I am sure you will be fine before long!”

“I hope so... Thanks.”

“But... sometimes these medications take time... do you know my father was a Healer on the Quidditch national team? Well David Beckham received quite a nasty Bludger to the head... something that simple should be healed within a month, but he missed an entire season. Eventually they realised they were treating it wrongly, and once they found the main reason they cured it... yours is similar, a sort of enchantment, we just need to treat all the possibilities. Sometimes it could be the simplest of things we overlooked.”

“Thank you, as scary as that is it does indeed give me great respect for Healers. I have been very angry lately, that they called themselves professional, but I admire their efforts...”

“Don’t worry Marietta, you will be healed before long,” said Tom stopping in front of her. Marietta’s eyes fell on his gaze, and she dropped it to the floor as had become customary with her. He placed both is hands on her shoulders, “Everything will be all right, you just have to be confident. We will try our best to help you...”

She smiled still unflinching from her look on the ground. She felt happy that Tom showed so much passion to help her, even though worry gnawed at her at the use of his word “try”. Try?


	7. Back inside.

Marietta returned to the wards, blushing as Tom bided her and Rosie, perched up at her a desk adieu. She had a spring in her step but tried to walk as elegantly as she could under the smiles of the receptionist.

“Had a good time dear?”

“Yes... it was all right being out for a change. Is Katherine about now?”

“Yes she is doing quite well that beautiful child... she was inquiring about you earlier,”

“Oh I best be getting back then...”

“Yes, she and that artist boy...”

“Oh!” stricken with fear, Marietta surveyed the clock overhead. It was now nine thirty, and she entered into a state of frenzy. She panicked and swivelled about nervously.

“Are you all right dear?”

“No. I..., I got to get going all right. Have a good night.” Marietta rushed to the corridor leading to her room, cogitating on if she should go look for Mesut now. Then, far ahead she saw her room door opened and there he popped out. She lingered before deciding to meet him half-way. He saw her and as usual his face tensed sharply. She hated that.

“Mesut... how are you doing?” she asked, flinching as he frowned heavily. She made to apologise quickly but he spoke.

“I am all right... I am just going to my room now. You have a goodnight...” He walked off leaving her staring in his wake. She turned around and walked up behind him.

“Look, wait...”

He stopped but did not turn back.

“I am quite sorry about this evening...” She stammered, uncertain of what she could possibly say. Some few seconds delayed, but he responded rather viciously.

“I have to get going. It’s quite fine. You had other plans...”

“No, it wasn’t like that... I forgot...” she jumped as he turned his head sharply at her explanation, “I ran late... it was...”

“It’s all right... I know, Madam Rosie told me,”

“Marie! I mean Mariette! Marietta! There you are!” Marietta turned around and saw Katherine stepping outside the room with a sketch pad in her arms. “Where were you, how was your evening? Is Tom back too? I thought I would say hello...” she walked ahead.

“No, he isn’t back until tomorrow,”

“Oh well, I should probably leave a message at the desk for him, in case I don’t see him right? Yes, I will leave him a message... no... But then I would be intruding if the first thing he hears is... No. I shouldn’t do it. Maybe, he... no... I will come first thing and... Yes... I will say hello first thing tomorrow, and you will remind me right... Oh!” She exclaimed as the sketch pad nearly dropped out of her hands. She turned to Mesut who stepped back a bit at her excitement. “I forgot... actually you forgot your sketch pad on the table, I forgot to give it to you... I guess we both forgot? Even Marietta seems to have forgotten too... Are you two going to meet up now? Or did you forget you have to, and won’t be doing it again? Of course not! You can’t forget now because I told you. So... yes... here take it before I forget too and nobody reminds me!”

She handed the sketch pad to Mesut who seemed a bit perplexed, though he had a smirk on his face guising his disappointment. Marietta giggled. Mesut was looking at her. Her hazel eyes fell on him, but within moments his grin faded, and he turned away muttering thanks and bye to Katherine, at least those were the only two words Marietta heard.

“Yes... now what am I to do? Oh dear! Oh dear! Did I forget now? Oh my god... I will go back in my room and see if I can remember! Yes... I am going back inside, I will see you, unless you forget... right...” Katherine walked back into the room. Marietta looked back down the corridor and saw just Mesut’s shoulder disappear around the corner. She sighed, awaiting the verdict to announce her as guilty.


	8. The elephant in the room.

Despite the reassurance that he was fine, Marietta doubted greatly that Mesut had forgiven her. She had lost enough people in her life already and she most certainly knew when she was shunned. Of course, she knew she was as guilty this time as all those other times, though she thought whole heartedly that she did nothing unforgivable. Mesut remained his usual self, but despite her constant efforts at chatting with him he rejected her advances by claiming he was busy or just focussing all of his attention on his drawing again. He hunched over it so delicately that she had a suspicion if she did peek some more he would actually shout at her, which would certainly be better than his silent treatment.

The previous night, she learned that Mesut was looking for her. Katherine had waddled out of her misery earlier that day, when she found him sitting at the waiting room opposite the main desk. Katherine, with her bubbly personality kept him occupied, when he offered to help her out with the art assignment. Following her altercation with him, Marietta returned to her room where most of the story was told, at least the bits and pieces she was able to decipher from Katherine’s distracted version. She felt terrible having forgotten him, but after she weighed the options in her head, it was an honest mistake. Why must everything be so unforgivable?

Mesut shot her a fleeting look snapping her back to her senses. His stare lingered harshly, before once again mulling over his drawing. She slipped into the seat behind him as the lecturer entered the room. Following a brief introduction, they were permitted to return to their assignments. As usual he drifted over from table to table. He came to Mesut, who seemed most appalled at his curiosity. He muttered beneath his breath, “It isn’t ready sir...” Marietta grimaced on seeing Dr Lawson’s awkward composure under Mesut’s glare. He turned away catching Marietta studying their conversation.

“Hello Marietta...”

“Sir...”

“You seem jolly today? Got your assignment done well?”

“Oh, I did sir yes. But yesterday I decided to take a different approach.” She reached into her bag and removed the parchment from the day before.

“That’s fine. I saw you getting some advice from... from him yesterday...” Dr Lawson said, pointing at Mesut, who remained hunched over his parchment as if protecting it for dear life.

“Oh yes, he is very gifted I think. He helped me do this...”

Dr. Lawson retrieved her drawing and studied it. Her character’s face looked solid enough, with the exception of the distorted eyes and nostrils. Marietta made out the slight leer on his face, but she could tell he was as impressed at her. She could not believe she had drawn that.

“This is pretty good Marietta, I am truly impressed...” He dropped the parchment back on the desk.“A bit heavy on your paint though?” he smirked.

Marietta smiled, “Oh that was intentional...”

“Interesting. So do you have the new story worked out yet?”

“No sir, I haven’t actually decided yet. I was just focussed on this drawing in particular, never knew  
I could have created something like that. It does look a bit too bland to tell a story doesn’t it?”

“Well Miss Edgecombe,” he paused as he saw a slight wince from her eyebrows, “Every picture tells a story, as bland as it may seem.”

“I suppose...” She reflected on Dr. Bridge’s interpretation of her awful house drawing.

“So if it seems bland to you... as the creator, then his story must be bland don’t you think?”

“Yes, I guess you’re right.”

“Well it’s really up to you, maybe you chose this because the impression you get in my class is that it is a boring one?”

“Oh sir no...” she said noticing another smirk on Dr. Lawson.

“Well, you have enough time. Good job on the painting. I look forward to his story.”

“So do I sir,” she said with her eyes locked onto her parchment bewildered by what her story was going to be. 

While Marietta sat over her blank parchment, she was distracted by the conversation between Katherine and Dr. Lawson. Katherine had only just entered, because she had an early session with Emily. She seemed to be filled with energy unlike the day before. Marietta was worried about how things would turn out. She never suspected Katherine to have a difficult case and she had no idea if she was going to learn about it. Curiosity dwelled within her heart. Katherine seemed pretty good though. She was talkative.

“Oh yes, yes, Mesut helped me, and he helped Marietta, I think he liked helping Marietta more though!” 

Mesut’s head rose from his drawing. Marietta could tell he was nervous about it. He resumed to his original position. She smiled, because she could see that Dr. Brown was trying to get a word in.

“But funny thing that Mesut, he never made the hall of fame, yet Marietta loves his work. That is certainly a confidence booster! It was too late though, so I didn’t earn her consent! So please don’t judge me sir,”

“I won’t Katherine, I am sure it will be...”

“Because after all, I missed the class, and I would not have known what you taught in class even though it seemed like you didn’t actually teach anybody how to draw, in which case Mesut should probably be teaching this class.”

Dr. Lawson opened his mouth to speak again, but Katherine suddenly clapped her hands again. “Sir... may I? I have a message to give to Marietta from Dr. Bridge! Oh! She wouldn’t have sent it with me alone if she didn’t mean it in secrecy! Oh my...” Katherine covered her mouth.

“Sure... go right ahead and keep it down okay?”

“Okay...” Katherine continued speaking with her mouth still covered. Marietta had already begun packing her bags.

“Marie! Dr Bridge... oh...” Katherine jammed her head closer to Marietta’s, speaking quietly, “It’s a secret, and Dr. Lawson said to keep it down... you don’t suppose they are both secretly working together to ensure I get the message across to you? Oh! That’s probably how he knew... unless he knew because I just told him... oh no...”

“...It’s fine Katherine...”

“Shh, keep it down Marie...”

“Katherine...”

“Oh! Marietta, I forgot you prefer being called that...”

“No, no it’s fine. I don’t mind, but I have to get going to Dr Bridge’s...”

“Shh!”

 

Emily was seated with crossed legs at her rectangular wooden desk. She was reading from the same notebook Marietta had gotten used to seeing her writing in. She noticed Marietta entering and readjusting her glasses, pointed her to a seat. “Well, I was beginning to think Katherine didn’t get my message to you in time. I do apologise for cancelling our appointment earlier, Dr. Grant and I thought it best to see Katherine today.”

“It’s all right, I am glad you did. I don’t suppose you can tell me about her can you?”

“Well, it’s not proper conduct to share that information. I am sure you have a feint idea though?”

“Yeah I think I do.”

“Would you think any different of her if you knew?” She shifted in her seat, pulling the notebook closer to her.

“I suppose not, but maybe if her first impression was that of yesterday’s incident I would have thought differently.”

“Yeah, but don’t you suppose your interpretation about a situation can change?”

Marietta lingered for a moment, firstly amazed at the tact of Dr Bridge to change the conversation around and secondly pondering how to respond to the question. She recalled her conversation with Dr Lawson a moment ago. “Well, I suppose every picture tells a story.”

Dr Bridge laughed, “That’s very good Marietta.”

“So then, I suppose impressions change?”

“Impression formation in social psychology refers to the process by which individual pieces of information about another person are integrated to form a global impression of the individual. As we meet people we see sides of them we didn’t know existed before. So do people really change? Or is it our impression of them that change?”

Marietta’s eyebrows arched inquisitively as she tried to put the wordings together. Emily smiled as she noticed that Marietta had put the bits and pieces together as her eyes ignited with a moment of grief. She quickly reflected on the way everyone’s impression of her suddenly changed when everybody declared her as the culprit that sold her friends out to Umbridge. “People really change, when impression changes...”

“You might find it surprising though Marietta, that it is not just people that change, but sometimes, we can change our own impression of ourselves which makes us change the way we are.”

“I am not sure I follow,”

“Well, Marietta, you have been coming to me a while now, and I think that we have come a long way. I think it is time that we do address the elephant in the room.”

Marietta’s eyes grew coloured with concern. She took a deep breath. The bandanna pressed against her face, and she could feel it up against the terror she wished that could just disappear forever, the horror that nobody else should ever see.

“Marietta, why do you wear that scarf?” Dr Bridge asked, trying to sooth her tone as she noticed Marietta’s discomfort.

A moment passed. Emily remained silent as she studied her client staring out the window wide eyed, lost in thought. It was certainly a question that she may not have had an answer to, however she trusted that Marietta was well equipped after all their previous sessions to find that answer. She had long planned to address the issue of the veil, but being aware of Marietta’s discomfort for having to stay on the wards, she chose not to press her so soon. She wanted her client to settle into the environment, which she had done well. She had met a lot of people, and she had finally understood impressionism, something that was the root of all her concerns. Dr. Bridge evaluated this from her analysis and her prior sessions with her. Marietta now knew the answers, but she just didn’t know that she did.

“I wear this,” Marietta started still looking out the window, “because I am ugly.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I don’t know if you realised, but my face is scarred with horrible, large, ugly, coloured pimples that nothing will make go away.”

“I understand, I know. But, do you think though that a person’s beauty is solely in their external complexion?”

“No I do not, but it is the only thing that people see and it is the only thing they base their judgment on.”

“Does everyone judge people that way?”

“Yes, they did. They do,”

“Everyone?”

“I think so.”

“What about you, would you judge someone like that?”

“No I wouldn’t...” Marietta paused for a moment, slightly embarrassed, “I... well... I do...” She quickly began recalling some events in her head. There was Eloise Midgen, a girl that she and her friends constantly berated for her acne problem. There was Brogan Hannah, a girl that they often laughed at for her weight problems and would often throw in random jokes that mostly compared her to a troll. There was also the case of boys that had to fit a certain criteria. There was Pearce Mcevoy, whose hairline receded from the moment the second year had begun. He had the courage of asking out Marietta’s close friend Samantha Geldart. Samantha was not nearly as popular as Marietta or Cho, or even their following. If anything she remained the one in the group to have never been on a date. They had bashed Pearce so much, that Samantha was totally embarrassed and rejected him. Marietta may have chuckled with her friends loudly enough for him to hear as he withdrew himself dejected. That led to months of laughter intended for him whenever he would walk by. Eventually the focus phased onto Samantha, whom they constantly reminded didn’t have the attention of guys, and reminded her daily of the type she was drawn too. Marietta’s heart thumped as she remembered the evening Samantha stormed back to her dormitories crying. They all jeered as she departed, and none of them had the courtesy to go to her. Samantha remained a part of their group, but constantly avoided them whenever possible. In fact, Marietta last saw her leaving Hogsmeade hand in hand with Pearce Mcevoy, and of course they judged her taste. “I judge people a lot, I have...”

“Well, why do you?”

“I don’t know... I mean, people can be weird?”

Dr. Bridge laughed, “Yes... indeed, but why do you suppose you would have done it?”

“I don’t know,”

“Why would your friend, if I recall correctly: Samantha Geldart, have turned down Pearce Mcevoy that time?”

“I don’t know, I guess it was our fault?”

“No, not anybody’s fault, but you all would have triggered some level of discomfort in her, because you were all her friends, and you are also overlooking something, you girls were the cream of the crop.”

“We were,” Marietta said, feeling an urge of pride rushing inside her.

“So it is only natural I suppose. I can also imagine that it must have been a lot of pressure for you as well, being the image of adoration by so much of the school.”

“Yes, it was pretty tough! You had to be at your best. You had to always make sure your hair was groomed. Your make-up was intact. Your clothes were fashionable. Well, thank goodness we wore robes around the castle, but on the Hogsmeade weekends, it was tough trying to dress better than everyone else.”

“Hmm, because undoubtedly, people were judging you girls, because of the status you all had.”

“Yes definitely.”

“Do you think you became judgmental then? Or were you always that way?”

“To be honest, I think I was probably always that way... my mother...” Marietta stated narrowing  
her eyes again, “always had me keep away from a certain class of people that we probably not consideredto be at our level.

“Yes, you mentioned her being an over achiever and wanting to be associated with people at the academic or professional level.”

“Yeah, a part of that may have rubbed off on me. I mean, I have my dad to thank for eight years of wisdom that made me not be entirely cold to people, but I mean, I took it with me. When we formed our clique, well... we set our own level limitations on people and so we were pretty judgmental”.

“Have you ever gone against the limitations you and your friends set?”

“You mean, by being friends with other people who were not deemed worthy?”

“Yes.”

“Well, yes... there were a few people, but I kept it secret from them or I gave them the idea that we  
were just acquaintances and not friends.”

“That’s clever, but why did you not judge them?”

“Well, I won’t say that I didn’t judge them at first. I had branded nicknames for them. There was cross eyed Perry, in-need-of-an-immediate-make-over Joanie and McSteamy... his name was Mark, but he was always sweating, and there is another boy Aryen, I called him...”

Dr. Bridge laughed as Marietta pondered over the names she had branded for Aryen. “Well gee don’t put so much thought into your branded names, we are supposed to be discussing why you didn’t judge them.”

“Oh that’s right,” Marietta chuckled, “their names are hilarious though.”

“They are, no doubt.”

“But yes, I suppose I got to know them. They were really nice people...”

“Your impression changed of them?

“Well I guess it did, I still think of them as dorks though...”

“Well, now that you know them you are fair to make that link,” Dr. Bridge beamed again, “so what is it about these, dorks that you uncovered?”

“Well you know they were... genuinely nice people. Like, they were pretty nice to me. They didn’t  
seem to care much how I wore my hair or how I looked on a particular day, and well Aryen, I think he just wouldn’t tell me anything because I think he likes me. They are nice, and well they don’t judge people. They don’t really care about what’s hot and what’s not. While some girls would get their hair done curly and auburn like mine, some would not be able to pull it off and just hate me for it. As for them, it really doesn’t matter who has curls or not.”

“It seems like you felt accepted by them.”

“Yes, I did.”

“So you see, you did stop judging them,”

“Well, it still doesn’t change the fact that I did. It is really bad to judge.”

“Is it really a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Being judgmental can be a good thing?”

“Yes, being judgmental is a trait we all have. In fact it is what helps us function in the world.”

Marietta looked a bit stunned to say anything.

“What do you think? Have you ever judged somebody and you were right even when you got to know them?” Emily inquired.

“Yes I did, so then I suppose there are good and bad in everything?”

“Exactly, there are pros and cons in anything. Being condemnatory is dangerous to you and to others. When one holds inaccurate opinions and share them, they steer other people in the wrong direction, as well as themselves. You also prevent yourself from being open to new things. In order to know if we are already out of the path, we need a high degree of self-awareness. On the other hand though, we need to be judgemental to survive. We make judgment calls every day. Can you think of any?”

Marietta shook her head. She thought long and hard for some time.

“We go through life being taught by our friends, family, and mentors that we shouldn’t judge others,” continued Dr. Bridge. “It’s not fair to the other person when we judge them before we know them. But is it really possible to stop being judgmental? As humans, we’ve judged situations for our entire existence. In ancient times, if something looked dangerous, it probably was. When we looked up at a dark and cloudy sky, through proper judgment, we conclude that it could be either a peaceful rain shower, or even a thunderous lightening storm. If we heard the roar of a troll, we judged that the best thing to do is to get out of the area. Today, we still judge situations in the same manner. If we hear sirens, it might means danger or a relief notification. If we hear Muggle gunshots, and we’re near a track meet, we judge that a race has begun. If we’re not near a track meet, head for the hills!”

“Oh, well that explains it. So we are judgmental?”

“It is a default setting in all of us.”

“That is very interesting Dr. Bridge,”

“Yes it is. You have been around here for a while now, have you met anybody that you like...” Dr.Bridge closed her notebook and recapped her pen.

“There is Tom...” Marietta muttered,

 

“As a friend...” Emily paused, “wait I am sorry what?””

“No, nothing,” Marietta added quickly, blushing heavily.

Dr. Bridge, with a raised eyebrow looked at Marietta, half smiling at her. “You have met a lot of people here. Do you like any of them as a friend?”

“Well, yeah. There is Katherine, she is pretty swell when I don’t have a headache, but she is really nice.”

“Well aren’t you Mrs Judgmental today?”

“It’s necessary for survival right?” Marietta teased.

“Yes it is,” Dr. Bridge beamed, “anyone else?”

“Yes, well there are a few people around the food court, they are pretty nice.”

“What about Mesut, Katherine shared an interesting story earlier,”

“Oh I wouldn’t listen to her,” Marietta blushed again, the strains in her voice evident of it. “Yes there is Mesut, but I don’t think he likes me much right now.”

“Oh, something happened?”

“Well yeah, it might have slipped my mind about us meeting up yesterday. I don’t think he forgave me.”

“Impressions sure can change won’t you say?”

“Yes, it changes every second,”

“Well, how do you feel though about this?”

“I feel pretty crummy to say the least.”

“Undoubtedly, you don’t like people having ill impressions of you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well before moving on, there is something you can do about this situation though,”

“Yes, I have apologised to him, but he won’t accept it.”

“Mesut is like that. He doesn’t speak to anyone really. Those that he chooses to will be considered very dear to him, so he feels betrayed, so maybe it’s just about earning back that trust.” “Yes, I see. I will try again.”

“There you go. However, I must ask: what was your first impression of him?”

“Mesut?” Marietta’s thoughts trailed away to their first meeting and his sharp glare. “He is weird, but he is... Well, do you want like an actual name?”

“Sounds like something that might make my day,”

“Well err Hairy Scary...”

“Well, you certainly hit the hammer on that nail.”

“I would say, but he is a really nice person. I mean, I was a bit afraid of him but he really is very nice, much unlike I thought. I guess you never know someone until you get to know them right?”

“Exactly! So now that this has been established, do you think that people will still think you’re ugly when they get to know you?”

Marietta dropped her eyes back to the floor. “Well, I suppose not, but the only thing is everyone at school hates me, even my so called friends. They won’t give me a second chance.”

“Well, it recently happened to you, and you kept to yourself for the final few weeks before school, so then how could you know?”

“A lot of people jeered at me when they saw me wearing my ski mask when we were heading back home.”

“Most likely out of judgment based on what they heard you did. They have no proof, and they didn’t take the time to get to know you. I am sure if they did, they would understand...”

“If only they did, but nobody tried to get to know me and understand how I felt about it.”

“You did grow distant though, you shut yourself away from everyone, to avoid being hurt.” “Yeah I did because nobody likes me.” 

“Well that’s not true Marietta, you have met people here, and you seem to have developed a good  
rapport with everyone, so they have gotten to know you.”

“They don’t know about my situation, none of them does.”

“You haven’t given any of them an opportunity to get to know you though, so how can you tell how they will feel?”

“Well, they haven’t judged me so far, and they haven’t once made fun of me. Maybe if they knew  
why I am in here they would think less of me?”

“They might have a lot of concern as to why you wear that veil, but they haven’t asked you about it have they?”

“No,”

“So I want to give you some homework Marietta,” Dr Bridge smiled, “of all your friends you have met so far, I want you to choose someone you are most comfortable with, and reveal yourself to them.”

“What?”

“I know it is startling, but it’s just an assignment I want you to try it. If you don’t feel that way with anybody between today and our next session, then that is fine. Please consider it though.” Marietta studied Dr. Bridge for a while, “Okay, I will consider it, but I don’t want to disappoint anybody else,”

“Who have you disappointed?”

“My mother, my so called friends, even my best friend. I have disappointed myself too.”

“How did you let yourself down?”

“I don’t know how, it’s just how I feel. I cannot tell you why.”

“I think you can, maybe it is something you have overlooked, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t stored in your subconscious. I am sure the root of it all can be traced.”

“Traced from where? I don’t know... I am disappointed in myself because of my mother I suppose?”

“Do you think it begins with her?”

“Doesn’t everything begin with her?”

Dr Bridge smiled, “This is therapy, we have to assume that everything begin with our parents.”


	9. Magical maladies and miseries

Marietta’s shoulders drooped, pulling her head to the floor. Maybe it was the weight of the many eyes looking at her? Maybe it was the prior convoluted week that she had just come off? Perhaps it was the fact that despite several attempts at healing her she was left with several new scars, but none of them replaced the old ones, which she would have accepted with open arms. Or maybe, just maybe it was because Tom was now tending to her, and with her precious Burberry scarf upon the woven table before her, there was nothing keeping him from witnessing just how hideous she looked.

A tortuous week had resulted in failed attempts of curing her ailments. They had relied on the Healing students when all hope seemed lost, but after four sessions she remained unaffected. Though she grew a bit of confidence to separate herself from her veil, it had surely sunk at an all time low again, especially seeing Stephanie with her beautiful face doing everything she could to impress Tom. Negativity flooded her thoughts and she found it very hard to believe that something would change.

The sessions were conducted by the Healing students, all divided into groups of four, each containing of a team of five students. The first case was given to group A, who had brewed a Polyjuice potion, using a grain of her hair, hoping that it would provide a relief for her to hide her scars. They failed dismally and she overheard Dr. Grant shouting utter disappointment at them, even announcing that they were all going to fail.

The second case was given to Group B, who brewed another potion, except instead of drinking it she had to smear it over her face. It took effect immediately. She felt it soaking into her pores. She felt miniature movements along her face and thought that it was a positive sign. However, after a few minutes had elapsed, her face remained the same. Dr. Grant took up the investigation on what they did. It turned out that they had created a product that would act like a facial cleanser by scanning the facial tissue and removing unwanted marks. In Marietta’s case however, her pimples went unrecognized. Dejected she returned to the wards and spent the rest of the time in her room.

The third case was given to Group C, who decided to take a much more adventurous route. They had created a mask, made from Group A’s idea with the Polyjuice potion. In turn they conjured up another potion that they warmed using a hot air charm. The potion was created as a by product from a Furnunculus jinx, that is, a pimple jinx, but by applying the hot air the molecules would be split up and thus execute the opposite to what the jinx did. Then, they mixed both in a flask and after carefully stirring gave to Marietta. It was extremely warm she thought, as she held the flask, but she had tried a ton of facial cleanser products, even those that were Muggle made, and knew that hot water was usually the key to washing them off. Carefully she smeared the blue, watery liquid upon her face gliding her hands along her skin, pressing in heavily wherever she felt her blisters more pronounced. The heat certainly sunk into her face, but for some reason she did not sweat. One of the students seemed pretty happy that she didn’t, indicating that it meant it was a success. After a few minutes, Marietta felt something pressing on her face, a lot softer than her palms, gushing from her forehead. She made to grab at it, but they told her that it was the product taking effect.

She didn’t feel any pain, but as the ripples made their way to her cheeks she felt her forehead growing much lighter. Finally, as she felt it on her chin, everything stopped. She felt something stiffening against her lips and chin, before finally growing lighter. The student’s faces were enough to let her know that it was a success. She quickly grabbed the mirror beside her scarf on the woven table at the centre, something she hadn’t done in a while. She was very startled at the reflection looking back at her. There she was all perfect. Her fair skin glowed in the rays of the beams of light shining down around her. She quickly grabbed at her cheeks where the SNEAK ran across, and grew disappointed that she could still feel it.

“What this is,” the leader of the group said, “is a protective coating mask. Do you still feel warm underneath?”

“Yes I do,” 

“Well, the heat being generated is being absorbed from your mask, and then what will happen is that your face will get pasted over with the mask, and then when you remove it, it will be gone in a few hours.”

So Marietta joyfully skipped out of the Healing office, but just as she rounded a corner along the concrete floor, her jaw dropped. She felt her face erupt in burns, much like she recalled that night. She felt it first at her forehead. Quickly she grabbed hold of it, her heart pounding rhythmically as she recalled the events from that night in Dolores Umbridge’s office. Suddenly she felt upon her once smooth forehead, buttons spreading from left to right. Just then, her cheeks erupted furthermore, her nose, her lips and her chin. Panicked, she rushed back into the office. The students were cleaning up their workstations where Dr. Grant was discussing their grade. As she stormed in, she began stammering, until Dr. Grant checked out what she was discussing. Suddenly where her hand had touched, Marietta felt her face burning again. She screamed out, and Dr. Grant panicked as she felt more blisters forming on her chin. She quickly called out to the team’s leader who explained what his products were and quickly Dr. Grant ordered them to remove it. They were all rooted to their spots as they explained that it could not be removed save for the time limit they set.

Angrily, Dr Grant drew her wand and muttered an incantation. A bluish glow shot out from the wand onto Marietta’s forehead. She asked Marietta to stay still for a moment, warning that it would pinch. It certainly didn’t pinch. It stung! Grunting but holding her tongue, Marietta kept her head up. Her nurse’s face said many things when she was done. The students beside them looked startled. Quickly, Marietta grabbed the mirror still at the table across the room and looked on. She dropped the mirror to the floor and started weeping. Her face was now severely pasted with acne. It ran lengthways across her entire face, from her forehead to her chin, even across those purple blisters that spelled out the word SNEAK. Dr. Grant threw a shoulder over her, muttering those words she hated, “It will be all right dear.”

Marietta resorted to wearing her shemagh scarf again. It took an entire day, which Marietta spent lying on her bed claiming she was ill for Katherine not to nag her, for the pimples to abscond from her face. Dr. Grant paid her a visit and said that she had a cure to heal her recent complications, making use of Group B’s product which cleared away the excess pimples that had scarred her face. It worked immediately and she threw herself into her nurse’s arms, not wanting to let go. Dr. Grant decided that she should take a couple of days before returning for the final group. She also informed her that their results were submitted and everything prepared them for a better attempt.  
Now came the final group, and Marietta was extremely nervous. The summer vacation was nearing an end. She would be released shortly and if this failed she was surely looking at suffering for the rest of her life. The only bit of confidence she had was the previous night whilst heading to her room, she saw Tom with his group going over some notes. They seemed pretty confident, and as little faith as she had in them, she certainly had that vision of Tom being her knight in shining armour saving her, a prospect that made her blush and rush away into her room as if they could see through her thoughts.

“Okay Marietta, it’s ready!” said Tom in a perky tune.

She shifted her gaze slightly seeing him just beneath the chest, wrapped in his white healing cloak. In his clenched hand he held a number of leaves that looked as if it were in the sun for too long. Beside him came Stephanie holding a glass bowl with both her hands, stirring with a grey substance. Tom dropped the leaves inside and suddenly they began disintegrating into the substance turning the colour to a lighter grey. Another student came up beside them and flicked his wand vertically and suddenly the substance turned to solid.  
Stephanie fumed for a moment, and turned the bowl over, without the substance spilling. “We might need a few more minutes you idiots...”

Tom patted his finger on the substance smiling. “No, it’s good. Maybe not the block we wanted but just get the water okay,”  
“Accio mug!” the girl behind them shouted and a mug appeared before her. She pointed her wand inside muttering, “Aguamente.” The jar filled with water.  
“Good, all right, Marie... would you like to stand up?”

Marietta stood up and approached them. Stephanie’s eyes locked onto her face, Marietta quickly bent her head again but could still feel her staring. Tom placed the bowl on the table, as the other student approached.

“Well it was supposed to be like a bar of soap but we didn’t have anything like ice trays...”

“Okay,”

“It will work though,” said the other girl behind the group, popping up with the mug.

 

Cupping her hands, Marietta took the water and splashed it on her face, feeling spills of it leaking upon her pink shirt. Using her wet hands she rubbed her wet finger on the huge block, feeling it being stained by the soap. Using both her wet palms she rubbed in until her hands were grey like the liquid. She looked at the others all looking on in awe. Here goes everything. Firstly targeting her cheeks where the SNEAK pimples had now grown into, she rapidly began rubbing her face with the soap. Stephanie advised her to repeat the process a couple of times until the soap was thickly covering her face. Marietta rubbed it around her face, avoiding her eyes.

“So what now?” she asked looking at the other boy in the group, standing next to Tom as he was looking through his paper.

“Well, you have to leave it for a few moments.” He placed a small hour glass on the table, and patted it with his wand, “Five minutes should do. Then wash it off and we will have to see the results.”

“Obviously, it wouldn’t heal it right away... but, it should help possibly discolour it from being... purple and gradually take effect.”

“How will we know if it works in the long term?” Marietta responded to Stephanie sharply.

“Well,” came Tom’s soft melodious voice, “we went down to the garden and retrieved strands of Athelas herbs. It’s a healing herb, mainly used for medical poisons and such, but that’s why we made this potion. In it is a poisonous substance, don’t worry, the herb would have killed it and fermented the liquid. So basically the poison would have disintegrated most of the molecules, so, mixed with water spreads it about your pores and well, it is usually immediate with the herb. Most times, it keeps one from dying long enough to attempt to heal...”

“Basically, it will fade the colour immediately, and the purple spots underneath the pimples would fade too, but the blisters are still too large, by the end of the week, if you use it three times a day, you will see a big result,” interrupted the other boy, who Marietta now noticed wore an identification card, issued to Frank Spencer.

“Okay,” said Stephanie looking somewhat glaringly at Frank for cutting off Tom, “so I think that should about do it,”

The other girl looked over to the hour glass that just poured out the final grains of sand.

Marietta cupped her hands again as Tom filled it with water. He stepped back as she splashed it across her face, perfunctorily rubbing around her cheeks again. She cupped it again and he filled as she splashed once more, rubbing off the coatings of the substance. Stephanie gave her a towel that she began wiping her face with.

“Excuse me a moment,” said the girl to Marietta aiming her wand at her clothes, “Ventus Duo!” Marietta felt a stream of hot hair gush at her clothes, drying them up and in turn drying her skin that it had penetrated onto.

She wiped her face once more and then looked up at the others.

They all stood together looking at her, Stephanie with a slight smirk. That smirk could only suggest that she must have been satisfied with the results. Quickly, Marietta grabbed the mirror on the table, but Tom had already started talking.

“It worked!”

Marietta heard it and quickly pulled the mirror up to her face. There it was: the hideously, large, ugly pimples scattering across her cheeks, totally faded from its purple colour but slightly darker than her skin tone. Marietta smiled for she hadn’t felt that way in a long time, not counting her slight moment of triumph after Group C’s effort. She studied the mirror for a while, before looking up at the group, all smiling, with high fives radiating across the room. She looked at Tom and smiled.

“It worked... I don’t believe it...” she said.

“It does!” he said beaming.

The door opened and Dr. Grant entered. She smiled at the group, “Good job. Marietta, how does it feel?”

“Well, does this mean it will clear everything up?”

“Yes, it does!” said Stephanie, apparently defending her work. She turned to Dr. Grant and began telling her what they did.

Marietta studied her face again, half smiling before overhearing Dr. Grant ask a question, “Did you use Kingsfoil?”

“Yes we did...” said Tom.

“Kingsfoil... Kingsfoil...” Dr. Grant lingered for a moment holding her chin, “that helps withdraw poison from substances, at least temporarily while Healers can cure them. If you didn’t use a cure for the potion, then that could mean that the molecules...”

The other students seemed stunned for a moment. They all gathered around Frank and began skimming through his paper. Dr. Grant seemed a bit perplexed, analysing different possibilities. “It’s likely that if you didn’t mix a cure, even after the weed is used, the molecules could still rejoin... then...”

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” Marietta asked.

“No dear, nothing detrimental. But the weed doesn’t kill... poison, it temporarily paralyses it, and then it reforms without immediate revival. Kingsfoil is only temporary to prevent it from spreading. Then, what happens is that the broken atoms eventually combine again, reversing the symptoms.”

“Poison?” she asked nervously.

“No, you won’t be poisoned, but then it is likely that the substance you rubbed on, the molecules will rejoin and then it would be like you just washed your face with the potion, which could not have an impact after all...”

 

Nervously, Marietta spent the next few minutes on her bed, while Dr. Grant discussed the grades with the students outside. She overheard them given a B, which agitated her mind furthermore with what would happen. She longingly gazed at her face in the mirror. She longed to see her beautiful self looking back, but she was equally as happy seeing normal blisters chiselled onto her skin, as abnormal in size as they were despite the word sneak still printed. Tom was pretty disappointed she saw, when he realised the mistake they made. She thought about it, realising how difficult it must be for everyone to help her. Perhaps it was a lost cause. This was her life as she knew it. In just a moment, her pimples would regain their colour and Dr Grant would come in and tell her that it was all right.

Instead, some hope came despite the return of the purple stains. Dr. Grant whole heartedly believed that the product would work and was issuing the group to remake it, but instead of using Kingsfoil weed, several strands of Abyssinian Shrivelfig would be replaced. Marietta remembered learning about it in her second year Herbology class, and immediately remembered it as a shrinking solution. Dr. Grant explained the contents and believed that it would be sufficient to reduce the pimples, and eventually remove it from her face. The only drawback was that there was no way to tell how long it would be before she saw any result, another thought that concerned her greatly.

 

“What a loser,” said Stephanie, sitting outside in the lounger leading to the walkway that would lead down the aisle to Marietta’s hospital room, with a group of other students who had attended to the magical malady. They all burst into laughter, except Tom, Frank and the other girl, Asher, whose eyes narrowed harshly on Stephanie for her haughty personality.

“Blimey, large purple pimples? That’s just hilarious... and I find it funny that it won’t go away. You all don’t actually think Dr. Grant’s idea will work do you?” asked one of the students.

“Oh, well... we will do it anyway. We are going to get an A plus for certain once we do it. Whether it works or not, it’s not really our concern, but for the effort we will do well,” boasted Stephanie again

The other students complained that their failure resulted in poor grades.

“So,” started another student, “we are being failed for someone being ugly?”

“She is not ugly!” snapped Tom, standing up from his bench.

“Oh, did I strike a nerve?” responded the boy.

“We are all Healers, it doesn’t matter what grade we get. We have a patient suffering...”

“Suffering, really? I don’t know what kind of ward rotations you get Tom, but that isn’t really a medical catastrophe,” replied Stephanie.

“Steph, it affects her a lot. She has to walk around hiding her face, ashamed. It may not bother her medically, but it is a malady and it makes her lose confidence in herself.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say Thomas has a bit of a thing for the girl,” said Gregory Johnson sitting next to Stephanie.

Tom as per usual, smiled receiving a mixed reaction from the group, except from Stephanie who seemed a bit flustered. Tom’s face recoiled as he pondered over their insinuations, finding it gross to like someone younger than him, still in school. “No, I am just saying she is a patient,”

“Yeah, a patient whom he went out with a few nights ago,” said Stephanie.

Gregory led the whistles this time, asking Tom if he mixed his part time job with pleasure. Tom blushed immensely at the accusations, even more so when Frank and Asher looked at him with raised eyebrows teasing him.

“Look it’s not like that she didn’t have anything to do...”

“Enter you...” said another student cackling in the corner.

“I have another round to do here this afternoon, I don’t have time to waste on you lot,” Tom announced picking up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder, “and I suggest you all get to yours too...”

Frank and Asher stood up and walked ahead of Tom to the door, keeping it open as Tom spoke to them. “I will walk you guys, I am heading to Block Thirteen right now.”

Frank entered in opening the door, nodding at somebody coming down the aisle. He held the door open for them.  
Asher entered nearly bumping into whoever it was, “Oh! I am sorry. I didn’t see you coming...” She stepped back out of the door frame smiling and looking back at Tom who turned around angrily at Stephanie’s cynical comment.  
“Look at you Tom, have to leave to avoid smiling. That’s exactly what someone does when hiding their feelings.”

Tom angrily looked at them, “What’s wrong with you guys, she is a patient...” Stephanie turned to Greg who rolled his eyes.

“Sure Tom, whatever you say...” she said as the other Healers giggled.

“Really guys, what’s wrong with you. Stephanie, do you feel like you have competition or something? She is young, and god, she looks so horrid and ugly, how the heck could you insinuate I like her. Have you seen her face? Unless of course, you have...” He trailed off as he felt someone bump past him from behind the door. He turned around and saw Marietta walking ahead, hastily, towards the exit of the lounge. Ridden with guilt, he looked back at his friends who were all now looking sternly at him. Fuming, he called after her. “Marietta, wait...” he called again as she opened the door. He walked towards her, “Marie!” but was too late. She stepped out and the door slammed shut behind her.


	10. Homework

Mesut approached the reception desk grateful that Rosietta wasn’t there for the weight burdened on his shoulders were now gone. He dropped the manila envelope that Dr. Bridge had given him after their session on the counter. He heard someone sobbing to the right of the desk, along the chairs that leaned on the wall nearby the magazine stand. He peeped over for a moment and identified Marietta from not just the red hair shining in the fluorescent light, but the scarf she bore. He studied her for a moment, she was crying vigorously with her feet up on the chair, hugging her knees to her chest. He waited for a moment, but she seemed to grow worse. He decided to go knock on Katherine’s room just a few feet away, but suddenly Marietta looked up and saw him. Quickly she turned the other way. Feeling awkward to just leave her now, he approached her.

She was sniffing when he arrived and she was wiping her tears in her sleeves. He stretched his hand to pat her on the shoulder but hesitated. He attempted to say something, but stalled, “Err...”

Marietta remained with her head turned away still wiping at her eyes, still sobbing. Mesut nervously looked around, before finally poking her shoulder with his index finger. She still didn’t react, maybe due to his soft touch, so he did it again, pressing a bit harder.

She looked to him with her slightly bloodshot, watery eyes. His eyes narrowed and his harsh facial tone took shape. She ignored it and dropped her face back onto her knees. After a couple of seconds she heard him speak, “Err... Marietta...”

She didn’t respond, but her sniffles were enough to fill the gap between his opening words to the rest of what he had to say.

“Are you okay?”

“No I am not,” she said quickly with a muffled, broken voice, without removing her head.

“What happened?”

“Nothing...”

“Okay,” he said, looking back at the reception desk hoping to see Rosie. She still wasn’t there. He looked back at Marietta, still unmoved, face buried upon her knees. “Why are you crying?”

“Because... everyone hates me...” she said again, voice further breaking up, and sniffing heavier.

“No they don’t,” he responded.

“Yes they do,”

“Why would anybody hate you?”

She turned brusquely, startling him, “You do!”

“No I don’t,” he responded quickly.

“Yes you do!”

He formed his stern composure yet again but she didn’t give in. She rolled her eyes and dropped her feet to the floor, turning her back on him. She folded her arms and looked ahead at the wall, feeling the droplets of tears sliding off of her face. 

Mesut took a deep breath checking again to see if Rosietta had returned. He sat down next to Marietta two seats away. “Have you ever considered that I am just mad at you?”

“I apologised to you several times, and you won’t speak to me.” She stated angrily shooting him a mimicked glare. He fell under her fierce gaze given the aggression in her red eyes. If not for the tears that were still draining off of her face he would have presumed she was angry.

“I don’t hate you Marietta, I am just... upset.”

“I apologised to you so much.”

“Well, I am sorry I guess I wanted you to mean it...”

“Well, I meant it. I made a mistake. Why must everything be so unforgivable? I forgive people for everything, yet... nobody likes me, everybody hates me.”

“Well, being upset with you doesn’t mean I hate you,” Mesut said, “I was just disappointed, much like you are now? Why are you so down?”

“It’s nothing it’s kind of silly really.”

“Silly so you cry about it? What’s eating you, clearly it is important to you, no matter how silly it might seem to someone else.”

Marietta turned to him gently this time. His face started recoiling but with great effort he contained it. He looked away as her eyes met his. “It’s Tom...” she started.

“Oh...”

“He was a real prat...”

“How come, didn’t you two go out on a date?”

“No we didn’t. He is not interested in me. He just took me to show me around that day.”

“Oh he did?”

“Yes, besides, he is just a donkey.”

“I am sorry that he was. Why do you say that? He seems nice.”

“Sometimes you think you know somebody well at first,”

“Yes, first impressions can be wrong.”

“Exactly,” she responded looking at him with a glitter of admiration in her eyes, “yes, that is so true,”

“People change though, even when you think you finally know them and could finally trust them. They can spin around and hurt us.” 

Marietta found herself back at Hogwarts on the night everything changed, to the moment her friends all laughed at her, chased off by Cho. She even recalled how in a moment of grief for Cho Chang following the loss of her boyfriend Cedric, their squadron of giggly, holier than thou girls all abandoned their leader. Just a year removed, Cho remained famous and soon all the girls surrounded themselves with her again. Now, Marietta was casted out. They all jeered at their once former friend who never bought any hurt to them. Time warped forward, and she saw Tom standing before, doing the same thing. She returned from her thoughts, distracted by the dark brown eyes that were looking at her. She was drawn to it. She never saw them before. There was such a mess on his face that she never attempted to penetrate further. She smiled at him and as he realised that she was studying him he turned away back to the reception desk.

“True friends would never do that to us, they will always be there for you...” Marietta said still looking at Mesut approvingly. “Much like you did for me. Thank you for being here for me.”

“That means a lot to me Marietta and thank you for saying that...”

She smiled and traced his stare back to the reception desk where Rosietta was still not present. A thought interjected into her mind. “Now it’s my turn to return the favour Mesut,”

“What do you mean?” he asked, genuinely interested.

“I let you down once and I won’t do it again... all right? You are an artist. There is something I think you might be interested in seeing. Come with me.” Marietta stood up, holding out her hand. He seemed perplexed, “Where are we going?”

“Outside...”

“I can’t leave the building...”

“Well, I never said anything about leaving it...” she said grinning, the mischievousness on her face concealed by the scarf.

 

Marietta led him down the narrow corridor past her and Katherine’s room. He followed after her after refusing to take her hands. It was a long stretch that ran so far that Katherine’s room seemed as distant as the horizon on a beach. At the end of the corridor came the dead end, blocked by a huge white wall without any windows. To its left housed a huge brass door, metallic in complexion with a small circular handle at the centre. Above it wrote in big green letters, EXIT.

“A fire escape?” Mesut asked.

“No, well...” she turned the handle, surprised that it opened with such ease.

They stepped out onto a steel platform, attached to two flights of stairs, both running spirally to and from the platform. They heard footsteps from underneath, clanging upon the steel stair. Quickly they shut the door behind them and Marietta directed Mesut upstairs, stooping down behind the railing as the person’s head popped up just ahead of the platform.

Rosie studied the door for a moment and looked up the stairs. She raised her left hand up holding a lighted cigarette that was disintegrating away. She took one more pull on the butt and blew out the smoke while she tapped her wand at the cigarette. She dropped it to the floor where it burnt into pieces before landing. She opened the door and exited. Marietta and Mesut listened as they heard keys being dangled. With a click followed by a thud, they peeped out and saw that the door was closed.

“That was close...” Mesut said, looking nervous.

“I hope we can get back in...”

“Well, it seemed like a task to get out, so let’s worry about that in a bit.”

“Yes,” Marietta said beaming, “Come on!” She turned and began her ascent. Mesut followed closely behind. 

With a loud thud, the door swung open propelling streams of sunlight at the two, making them wince and cover their eyes. They walked out stepping carefully onto the narrow steel fenced walkway connecting the door to the rooftop. It ran four feet ahead onto the large concrete canvas. The canvas formed a square and the three edges, disconnected from the walkway, bore waist height railings as protection from falling over. At the centre was a huge black tank, hoisted up by a metallic tripod stand stained by rust.

“Oh that’s a beautiful sight!” Mesut announced sarcastically as he clutched the railing of the walkway.

“Oh shut up,” said Marietta following behind him.

Mesut chuckled as he stepped upon the concrete canvas, ignoring Marietta’s slight struggles to climb up. They walked around the tank investigating the entire compound. The beauty of the view could be seen from where they stood. The London Bridge could be seen, hidden by the bright white clouds in the distance ahead. Together, they sprinted towards the railing chuckling and understanding that it was a race against time, to determine who would be the first to feast their eyes on the beatific view that the height of the building would reward them.

Standing side by side, silence rained upon them, save for the flocks of birds chirping overhead. They stared wide-eyed into the distance. Despite the bright sunny day that it was, they felt the cool breeze gusting against them. Below the pavilion stood the vast, red wall which lead to the Healing school. Behind the wall was nothing more than a vast ocean of trees and forest pastures, and ahead of that a road that dissected this area from the other forested region across it. The road curled and Marietta could see that it lead back to the small town, which she had passed on her way to St Mungo’s hospital. They studied the vast landscape slightly disheartened that the clouds had now smothered the London Bridge away. Still, it was a beautiful sight to see.

“It’s so beautiful,” Marietta said studying the splendour before them.

Mesut smiled as he took it all in, “Wow, it’s so pretty!”

“Here is the most beautiful thing I would have seen for my entire summer...” Marietta stated.

Mesut chuckled, “Likewise... here is to a very, lame summer!”

“I think it may be the worst...”

“Well maybe for you. For me it’s pretty good as compared to my others.”

“Oh surely it can’t be that bad?”

Mesut’s eyes rolled, yet his face remained ever joyful at least what little colour could be seen through the thick beard that decorated his face. “You have no idea...”

“Oh try me,” Marietta challenged

“Well, at least this time I don’t have to face constant berating from my parents.”

“Those type of parents yes? I suppose if I considered having to do things with my mother I would have to agree with you. This place is perfect!”

Mesut laughed. Still staring at the view he resumed, “Does your mother restrict you from doing stuff you like?”

“Only always!” she exclaimed. “If something makes you happy she puts up her mental blocks against it right away. If she doesn’t think it’s important, it isn’t...”

“Are all parents like that?”

“Parent... and yes...”

“Oh I am sorry,” Mesut said apologetically.

“No don’t be, I was only telling you. Don’t know my dad well enough...” Marietta said bullishly, “what about your parents?”

“If it makes you feel any better, I wish they were not around. Much like you do with your mother I reckon,”

“Well,” Marietta trailed off. The image of her mother sternly glaring at her popped up. Then she recalled something that lay hidden in the background. In their kitchen upon the island, a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup laid. Her mother’s words could be heard, “You will eat that soup and go straight to bed... I will not hear it Marietta! You are ill. I will be up to check on you later, so don’t worry!”

Sheepishly, she went into the kitchen and ate the soup, coughing, feeling the soup grating against her sore throat. She groaned, and suddenly she heard footsteps returning to the kitchen.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“No,”

“What happened?”

“Nothing, my throat hurts...”

“Oh no...”

Her mother opened the top cupboard and pulled out a jar of honey. She used her wand to summon a lemon from the fridge. She took the spoon Marietta held and poured some of the honey onto it. Then she squeezed the juice out of the lime. 

“Here, this will help...”

Marietta made to take the spoon from her but her mother pulled it away, “No, just open... good girl. Try to eat as much of the soup as you can. I will call in work and take the day off tomorrow...”

“No mum,” Marietta said, with an upheaval of guilt on her, “I will be all right...”

“Nonsense, you focus on getting better okay?” Marianne Edgecombe, using both her hands combed her daughter’s curly hair behind her head and pressed her lips onto her forehead, “Now, eat...”

“Yes?” Mesut asked, looking at her. He could detect that something was on her mind. Her eyes revealed a moment of splendour. She looked up at him causing him to blush. She chuckled as she turned her face away.

“What?”

She took a moment before she realised that his eyes were still on her despite his face flushing red. “Nothing, I was just thinking that... I don’t. I don’t think I would wish she was not around. She may be a handful... but...” Marietta lingered as Mesut’s face masked with a bit of shock. He turned away disappointedly looking down at the red wall below. He maintained however his peaceful demeanour without showing any signs of resentment. “Why do you Mesut? Why do you wish they were not around?”

He remained unmoved still staring below the pavilion. Marietta clutched his palm, withstanding the shrug that followed from Mesut. His body relaxed though and he looked at her once more.

“You can tell me...”

He blushed as their eyes locked.

“There is not much to tell. My family doesn’t like me. They think their lives are better off without me.”

“I am sure that’s not true...” Marietta said, “I am sure they do...”  
“No, to them I am just an embarrassment.”  
“I don’t think so. You have such a unique gift. You are the best artist I know!”

He smiled happily. “Thank you, I truly appreciate that...”

“I am sure they appreciate it too...”

“No they do not. They think it is a wasted skill. They want me to be more like them, more like my brother. They are all academics always striving to be better. They have always been disappointed in me. They would hide my sketch pad. I would have to do well in school before I can see it again. They would always urge me to do other things. Make me be someone I am not.”

“That’s terrible...” Marietta responded avidly. She knew her mother had plans for her and always wanted her to excel in that, but she was never restricted from having hobbies. She was just monitored that it never got in the way of school. Mesut however had talent and surely he should not be forced into being something he is not. “You are a great person...you don’t have to be any different.”

“Unfortunately I have to be. They all think I am just a kid without any real idea of what is best for me. I thought my friend would have thought differently but he sold me out after some secrets I shared with him and they sent me here.”

“Oh that is so wrong he never should have done that. What secrets did he spill?”

“Things I confided in him, he promised me he would never tell anybody when he found out. Then he did and it is how I ended up in here.”

“Why are you in here?”

“Don’t you know?” he asked.

“I’ve been trying not to pry into people’s lives anymore... therapy sessions...” Marietta responded.

“Well, aren’t we both in here for the same reason?”

“That depends on how badly your face has been ruined.”

“Well, it was the one thing that gave me away...” Mesut parted a section of his beard and leaned closer to Marietta. She saw it and her face welled up in terror. On his face, beneath the hair she could make out scratches and cuts about his face. She followed the outline of his beard and could see a few more tiny ones about. He stepped back a bit when he saw her eyes looking on in disbelief.

“Did you do that yourself?”

“Yes... I usually do it on my forearms though not quite as close to the wrists as you have...”

“What? Me? No... I... I don’t cut...”

“You don’t? Isn’t that why you are here?” Stricken with panic Mesut began adjusting his sleeves and his shirt collar. “I am sorry. You don’t want anyone to know obviously, I am sorry...”

“No, no it’s not that... I don’t cut, why’d you think that?”

“I saw it on your wrists, when we were painting... they were closely knit to your veins, and were discoloured, I presumed you recently stopped...”

Marietta draped her left hand over her right wrist. “You mean this?” She rolled up her sleeve. He tilted his head as he noticed words drilled deep across her hand. They were lines, running line by line, and he could see that it ran even beneath the rolled up sleeves.

He muttered, “... must not... lies?”

““I must not tell lies”. Detention... from a horrid professor...”

“That’s wrong! Didn’t you report it?”

“Nope we couldn’t. She was in charge at the school last year, was pretty strict.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing... my mother worked under her, and she targeted me...”

“That outrageous, did she target anybody else?”

“I only know of one person, Harry Potter...”

“Ministry head you said? Well, no wonder they would be like this to him. I am really sorry, did that hurt? Was it like burning? It looks awful!”

“Yes it did, it pained...” she said, suddenly feeling the gashing ripples scraping across her wrist. She cringed and held onto it.

“I am so sorry Marietta...” he said meaning every word.

“Thank you,”

“Then, if you’re not a cutter, why are you in here?”

It was now Marietta’s turn to shrug. He detected it and quickly added in, “It is fine if you don’t want to...”

“I always wondered how come nobody ever asked me about it...”

“I don’t know. I assume like me we thought when you were ready you would tell us?”

 

The words of Dr Bridge resurfaced again. “I want to give you some homework Marietta. Of all your friends you have met so far, I want you to choose someone you are most comfortable with and reveal yourself to them.” Marietta had considered this assignment, but it soon went to the back of her mind. She figured revealing herself to all the Healing students would work, given that Tom was there, but she wondered just how comfortable she felt with him seeing her like that. She pondered if perhaps it was just something she had to do, in which case she did not adhere to the rules of her assignment. She released a mental sigh, thinking that she had adopted her mother’s mentality of always abiding by the rules. As per rules, Mesut was being fair also. He never questioned her until just now, even though he presumed he knew about her condition. He didn’t force her, or badger her with questions. He left it entirely up to her. She felt confident and comfortable with him because here was the same stern, scary boy she had come to know smiling and telling her everything about him. Maybe this is what she needed? Maybe she just needed someone to be snug with her, so she could warm up to them.

“Thank you Mes,” she said, “is that why you never spoke up in Coping Skills class? Were you not ready?”

“I didn’t know anybody well enough... until now.

“Until now... me too,” Marietta took a deep breath. “The reason why I wear this scarf... it’s because I am ugly...”

Mesut’s eyebrow rose. He looked at her with disagreement but said nothing.

“I’ve been jinxed by a spell that left me with... a massive break out, of... pretty bad pimples. Until now, none of the Healers has been able to cure me, so I am here until they do. This is why I wear this...”

Staring at her, Mesut held her hand again. She looked surprised, but the grief in her eyes overshadowed it. Mesut frowned, “I am... so sorry...”

“It isn’t your fault,”

“No, but you shouldn’t have to face something like that,”

“I was responsible for it...”

“Even so, it’s not fair for you to have to suffer like this... you are not ugly.”

“You don’t even know me...”

“Maybe I haven’t seen you... but I got to know you...”

Marietta searched for a response, but nothing could be found. She found herself rooted to the spot, simply admiring what he said. She drew reference back to her session with Dr. Bridge also. If people got to know you, their impressions would surely change. Whatever Mesut thought, he seemed to think highly of her now. He certainly was not holding any grudges anymore.

“Um, know you, like... you are,” Mesut began stammering before finding his wording, “a nice person. You are friendly and kind, everyone talks about you. Everyone: Katherine... Andy... Katherine especially admires you. She told me how nice you were. In fact, that night I helped her with her assignment she told me how sorry she was for being mean to you about how nice you were being.”

“Do you talk about me?”

Mesut blushed and released her hand, he turned away looking beneath the pavilion again, “I don’t much... Phil would sometimes... I always thought you were nice...”

“...Even when I forgot about our plan?”

“...Yes... I guess I presumed you just thought I wasn’t nice...”

“Never, I thought you were nice from the first time I met you...”

“You didn’t...”

“Can you blame me? You never spoke to me.”

“Well I didn’t know what to say...”

“Impressions sure changes though Mes... my first impression of you may not have been that way but when I did finally meet you when Andy introduced us, I saw how sweet you were...”

“Thanks... that is the same thing I meant. You are not an ugly person. You are nice, and it doesn’t matter how your face is...”

“Thanks...”

Mesut smiled, “I would like to see you though...”

“See me?” Marietta contemplated walking with him hand in hand.

“You know, like, whatever happened to you?”

“Oh, I don’t know...”

“I think that would be a far more interesting to an artist than... this view...”

Marietta chuckled, placing her palm on her face. She was deciding with herself as obvious from the slight groans she exuded.

“If you don’t it is fine but there is something I should tell you...”

“Mm?” Marietta responded looking back at him.

“My drawing that you saw... it’s about you...”

She smiled, “I think I always knew... it reminded me of myself crying...”

“Um, there you go again with that crying, I presume it is something definitely troubling to you.”

“If I am not crying in it, then why am I hiding my face? Oh...”

Mesut beamed, “I wonder...”

“It’s because of this isn’t it?”

“Yes, the first time I saw you... I thought you were shy...”

“That’s the first thing you got? Not that I might have been burnt? Scarred? Mutilated?”

“Among other things, yeah...” Mesut laughed. “The first time I saw you, you didn’t want to speak up. I presumed you were like I was, shy...”

“I presume being shy is something troubling to you?”

“It is... I thought you were like I was... with the whole cutting thing too, that to me stood out as the only reason why you hid your face.”

“Like you do?”

“Yeah, must be difficult for a girl to grow a beard...”

“Not really, I’ve seen hexes do some pretty nifty things to people...”

“Would look silly though...”

“I doubt more silly than wearing this though... so this girl she is shy?”

“Yes, hiding her face from the world... at least that was the idea of my painting at the time.” “I see, so you are intrigued to see what lurks beneath?”

“I am, but it is entirely up to you...”

“All right...” she resumed her position with her face embedded into her palms. The familiar groans returned, but were not as lengthy. “All right... I will show you. It is something that Dr Bridge recommended I do... I think I feel comfortable enough around you...”

“You do? Thanks...”

“I have been wrong before though...”

Mesut smiled at her, “I am no Tom...”

“He is no you.”

With a heavy sigh, Marietta threw her hands underneath her neck. She groped about the scarf looking for the knot. Despite feeling it a couple of times she bided her time. Mesut turned away as though she was changing her clothes. She tugged at the knot and the mouth piece dropped down around her neck. She removed the part above the head freeing her red hair into a frenzy draping about her face. Her pustules were never as pronounced to her as it was now. She felt them pressing against her cheeks and even against her heart which pounded against them constantly. Mesut’s head returned to her direction but she instinctively looked to the floor. She could see his feet facing her and he was unmoved. She detected a bit of non-lexical conversational sounds from Mesut, but nothing that suggested shock. Though deep down, she presumed he would tumble over the edge of the railing when he saw her.

“Well, hello there... I am Mesut...” he extended a hand low enough for her bent head to see.

She looked up slightly confused and saw that he was smiling. It grew into a wide mouthed grin when he saw her expression. Finally, she did not have to rely on her eyes or words to describe her emotions. She took his hand and shook it gently and quickly as though it was the first time today that they did touch each other.

“Hello...” she said, “I am Marietta...”

“Nice to meet you...”

“Wish I could say the same...”

He reeled and an inch of his usually stern expression glided over his face briskly. Had it been for her scarf maybe it would have stained it, but he could detect the mischievousness that now donned over her face. “Why can’t you?”

“Well, I haven’t quite seen your face either...”

“Oh right, well I haven’t grown quite brave enough to removing my scarf around others...”

“Maybe you should and lose that Mess of a face you have...”

“Mess? Nice...”

Marietta laughed, “That beard is just...”

He responded with a frown. “I thought you ladies liked the hair?”

“Rosietta probably...”

Mesut burst out laughing.

Marietta followed suit, “Some do. Ha. Ha. But I think it takes away a lot to be admired from a person.”

“There is not a lot to admire about me though.”

“And there is a lot to be admired about me?”

“Yes there is, you were brave... and you still manage to look good. I mean, we all have pimples don’t we?”

“Not large and grotesque like these...”

“Even so, it’s not enough to take away how nice you are... I think you are... pretty.”

“Thanks...”

“But I do have a question though, what is that whole sneak thing about?”

“Stupid kid at school... one day she will get what’s coming to her!” Venting, Marietta told her tale, and even about her incident with Tom when Mesut inquired. He was a very good listener, in full support and rarely gave advice, thereby allowing her to release some more steam.

Based on Mesut reactions to certain events, she found herself questioning him further about his story. She followed his format and lent him utmost support, but she found that as it unravelled she developed her own way of listening. Her emotions connected with him and she empathised with him entirely. She saw how different their stories were and it sure helped her view her mother in a different light. Just great, now I miss her.

Mesut’s parents always classed him as being lesser than they were. As time went by, their feelings mirrored onto other members of the family, even his brother. Friends of the family would detect it as well and since all their friends were considered as equals to them, he found it difficult to find his niche. Art became the bolster in his life. He would paint things from his emotions, to lands far and away which reflected on the many trips his family would go on without him, not that he had any desire to go in the first place. Perhaps it was down to their lack of insisting that he did, kept him away.

He soon felt neglected, as Marietta understood and that was when he resorted to cutting. He lost his trust in people. He was a loner at school. His cutting seemed pretty distance from each other, but it became his main attraction when his parents banned him from his sketch pad and paint supplies following a return of bad grades from his school. Marietta was brought up to judge such people, but she realised she could not. Based on his schooling system, he was in the house of Yurdanur. It was based on the Turkish Wizard who was the first that made crafts without magic as he was in disguise at the time as Wizards were not yet accepted in society. It meant that students of that caste were brilliant and adept at arts and crafts more so than Ravenclaw students. She realised that people could be smart in their own way.

Away from his sketch pad, he turned solely on cutting. He grew his beard long and thick when questions came from his teachers wondering what the root cause for his cuts were. He confided in a friend of his, who Marietta gathered was only looking out for him. He reported it to the school and that lead to his care. The teachers recommended that his family seek help, and there it was they found St Mungo’s Hospital, rated as the best in the world. His family however delivered a huge blow to him when they declared they were still going on their trip to the Caribbean that summer, a trip that Mesut agreed to go on the moment it was laid on the table.

“Well, you would not have enjoyed it with them anyhow,” Marietta said.

“I know, but it reminds me that they don’t like me and there is little or no hope in us ever having a proper relationship. Dr. Bridge has already contacted a therapist back home to see us... I doubt my parents would be willing...”

“Have some hope. I am still holding on to a promise by Dr. Grant... it’s the only thing left for my sanity.”

“Hope in this hopeless place?”

“I thought it was, but I see now that things are not always as they seem...”


	11. The time malady.

Rosietta had just walked down the stairs with a cigarette tucked between her lips much to Marietta’s and Mesut’s luck. They were perched on the staircase waiting after they were unsuccessful in opening the door. Thankfully she had gone on another cigarette break now. They exited back into the narrow corridor and were laughing happily at their escape. Marietta once again donned her veil, but it was not perfectly knit together as before. She felt a bit more confident as a couple of patients chatting outside their room doors looked at them. She kept her head held high despite that, and found that she was nodding at them as they walked by. She slowed down at her room, not wanting to walk further to the reception desk in the event that Tom was present. As Mesut walked ahead, turning back when he noticed her lingering she realised that it would be wrong to not continue walking with him. She started walking again before he spoke.

“Oh, you’re going to your room?”

“No, I was just wondering if to check on Katherine.”

As if on cue, the door opened and Katherine poked her head out blinking rapidly at the two. “Oh Marie... I mean...”

“Katherine, hi!”

“Where were you? Hi Mesut... oh! You were with Marietta? How exciting! I knew you two...”

“Are you good Katherine? I got to get going now though...” Mesut interrupted.

“I suppose I am good. I would have been great if Marietta returned here without her scarf because that would mean that the experiment with those Healing students went well... unless I should be great because she is waiting to tease me? This would be pretty funny, albeit a bit mean.”

Marietta laughed, “No I haven’t got a mean bone in my body, I didn’t...”

“Which would mean you are not teasing me, because you are pretty nice... although I can’t say physically as I have never...”

“It didn’t go according to plan. They tried to help me but Dr. Grant is hopeful she could make it work...”

Katherine started again but Mesut interrupted hastily, “It will be all right Marietta...”

She was grateful for her scarf shielding the huge frown and pursed lips that formed on her scowling face. He means it in the best way possible. “I hope so too...”

“Cho hopes so too! I just glimpsed it though but...”

“What?”

“Your pretty owl Fluttery came!”

“When!?”

“This morning...! Actually not so nice! He pecked Rosietta! Don’t you like Rosietta, you’re smiling! Why are you smiling?”

“No... It’s just this cute thing he does... he likes pecking!”

“I don’t fancy pecking, it must hurt. I wouldn’t know, although Rosietta did cringe when she got it! Unless she thought it would hurt and panicked, much like I probably would!”

“Where is he?”

“He is in the letter room! Rosietta took him. She was so scared he bit her again. I have the letter on our coffee table, but we haven’t had coffee on it yet, I think we are too young still...”

“Oh, well let me get it... Mesut...” she turned back to him.

“Yes, it’s all right, we will catch up later?”

“It would only take me a moment though.”

“Mesut...” said Rosietta a few feet away, walking down the narrow corridor.

“Oh... hi...” he said sluggishly, Marietta again made out his dread, but she knew it was nothing out of the ordinary.

“As per Dr. Bridge’s request, we got the package for you...” 

“It arrived?”

“Yes... I have it at my desk. Come. Hello girls,” Rosie added as she strolled off ahead.

“See you Marietta... Katherine,”

“Bye. Do have...”

Marietta responded while Katherine was still speaking. “Take care... and Mesut... thank you for today...”

“Thank you too Marietta...”

With a blush he turned away following Rosietta.

Katherine stared behind him mumbling, “He is walking just as happily as you did that evening with Tom... speaking of Tom! How...”

Marietta grabbed the letter triple folded upon the coffee table. She threw herself onto her bed in excitement. Katherine returned to continue working on her art assignment, after Marietta made her anxious about the deadline date. She stared at the letter for a while, at the top left corner it signed, Chocolate hopes you are all right! Marietta stared at it happily, excited to open the parchment, but at the same time savouring the moment. She waited far too long. Slowly and cautiously she unfolded it. She fumed at its length, expecting something much longer for all the time that passed.

Hello Mere, I am so sorry for this late response. Mum passed a rule: no owls allowed. So I had to sneak time in! My vacation is going really well, thank you for asking. I am really sorry about your summer though. I hope this gets sorted out soon. You know you are still beautiful. Aunty still loves you. We all know she can be rough around the edges. Take care, Cho.

No rereading was necessary. Marietta crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it across the room. She buried her head beneath a pillow and released a loud, muffled grunt. Her feet kicked up into the air and her heels pounded away on the bed. She bit at the pillow and her scarf and then lifted the pillow up before slamming it back upon her face. Then she threw it off the edge of her bed and looked up at the ceiling, blocked by Katherine’s inquisitive looking face. Startled, Marietta jumped.

“What’s wrong, bad news? Oh my... you’re angry! Do you want my pillow? Dr. Bridge said releasing the anger helps you feel better... come let me get it... or do you want yours? It’s on the floor! I will get it for you, unless you want mine!?”

“No, I don’t want anything...”

“If you keep that anger welled up it will get unhealthy! Do you want a hug, unless you don’t want me touching you?”

“Don’t touch me!”

“Oh no! I don’t like this. You need to get rid of the anger. Didn’t throwing that paper ball help it? Or do you prefer hurting yourself? Let me get it so you can throw it at yourself!”

“No! Keep that letter away from me! I will kill her if I see it!”

“Kill who? Cho! No! Why!? That’s why you cannot keep that rage in! You will do something you regret...”

“I won’t regret it! I don’t regret doing anything! I am happy I spoiled her relationship with Harry! I am happy they all got in trouble! I am happy to be here! I am happy I don’t have to see her or that fake, stupid, retarded smile and “oh so flawless” face! I am happy she dragged me along to join that stupid group so I could rat them out! I am happy I stood by her side when everybody abandoned her! That ungrateful little bitch! All those times I held my tongue, and watched what I was saying so I won’t hurt her feelings, but she dare sends me a message with those words that torture me, that follow me anywhere I go! Those damned words that labelled me a dirty little traitor! That’s the piece of crap she writes to my long, damned, two paged letter! I hope she got pecked!”

“I knew it! You like Fluttery attacking people! This anger is turning you into a monster! Unless you already are one...”

Marietta burst out laughing, “You’re crazy you know that?” She managed to sit up on the bed, still shaking from the anger. Her continued giggling was very contagious, causing Katherine to eventually join in. 

“That’s why I am in here.” Katherine stated, without adding more as her repeated chuckles distracted her.

Surprised by this Marietta spoke quickly, “No I don’t mean it like that I meant that you are fun...”

“I am fun? Thank you. I don’t think I am... I am silly sometimes, I know that... and I come on pretty strong, like I am right now! I need to give other people a chance...”

“Sometimes yes... but you are genuine and you are honest all the time. Something everyone needs to do.”

“Thank you, I know sometimes it can be mean though... like...”

“Even so, honesty gives people the truth, rather than their constant beating around the bush and acting like everything is great when clearly nothing is...”

“Then I am guilty for lying then, because it bothers me that I’ve never seen your face...”

“No, you have always mentioned it... but you left it up to me to tell you when I was ready...”

“I did, didn’t I? I suppose I always thought you would tell me one day when you were ready... being friends and all. If we are friends, unless you don’t think we are...”

“I have lost too many friends to not think of you as an actual friend...” Marietta announced, considering how well Katherine understood to not press her with questions.

“It hurts when we lose friends I know, but Cho did write you... unless you are not speaking about her...”

She did respond, why am I freaking out? Oh right that’s why! Marietta reflected on her long two paged letter. She had taken some time out of her difficult week before she got admitted into the hospital, to write what was happening with her: from her mother’s anger and disappointment to her own displeasure of not being cured. She took a few extra days to continue writing, hoping to update her friend with every bit of her story, while asking all relevant questions to uncovering how Cho was doing. “She did write Katherine, but I felt like she didn’t devote much time to me. She has always had a tendency to do this to me... but given what happened between us, I feel like we are drifting apart. She was there for me, I won’t forget that, but it felt like towards the end of the school year, she was biding her time to get away from me. She doesn’t seem too enthused to respond to me, to mention anything about her vacation, to tell me how her relationship is progressing... nor did she care about how I was doing. ”

“I am sorry you feel that way. I don’t know how you feel... although you told me, but I can’t feel it exactly, but I am sorry... I am sure she doesn’t mean anything... I think...”

“It’s like I am always there for her, but god forbid something goes wrong with me...”

“That is something I think we are all at fault over. Not saying you are... wrong or I am wrong, but I think it makes us wrong for having to think in that way, but I think like the fault still...”

“What are we at fault over?”

“We are all at fault for expecting too much of people. Not a true fault, just a tiny bit, a small spec, a milispec if that exists, or even smaller and...”

“I follow...”

“Right! It is not wrong to want dear friends to give us the same level of attention, by all means I think we deserve it especially after all the efforts we put in...” Katherine halted studying Marietta, who sat listening intently. She continued, “I don’t think anybody matches up to anybody’s expectation... but they match up in other ways, and then when they come crumbling down with that weight on their shoulders, we suddenly feel betrayed and overlook the efforts they gave to us. For instance, like...”

As Katherine rambled, Marietta began pondering on that image of her mother tending to her when she had a measly little cold. She saw the anger and hatred shadowing her heart attempting to overwrite that with all the bad qualities she experienced with her. She reflected on Cho hugging her tightly as she wept into her shoulders, tears dripping in odd patterns as the ghastly pimples distorted their path. She studied the letter in her head again, of its short length and vague responses, but she remembered the initial line, Mum passed a rule: no owls allowed. Maybe she really couldn’t dedicate much more time. Still, I took time out of my difficult schedule couldn’t she do the same from a vacation? Then she picked up on the judgment she passed again. Despite the vague responses, Cho supported her when everybody grimaced and jeered at her wherever she went, maybe she should be excused here?

Then, Marietta pondered over if she was expecting too much, maybe Cho was expecting just as much from her, and Marietta, to indirectly use Katherine’s words, came tumbling down the friendship slope when she betrayed the D.A. Cho must have felt betrayed too, but still focussed on being there for her in turmoil.

Finally, the thoughts she had pushed away from her memory, never to be spoken off surfaced as Katherine’s explanation continued, “Obviously Marietta, we sacrifice a lot...”. Sacrifice, that was exactly what Marietta would have liked in response. Even though Cho gave her support towards the end of the school year, it paled in comparison to the time she dedicated to Cho’s difficulty. She thought she deserved much more than that after casting her feelings aside for her best friend’s ex boyfriend, Cedric Diggory. Marietta long had a crush on him and was dejected to say the least when he approached her one evening inquiring about Cho. There is a rule that goes in opposition of standing in the way of your best friend’s possible love interest, and Marietta adhered to it. She fumed at her mother for her text book rulings.

Marietta stepped aside and threw her feelings out the window as she helped set a plan in motion to introduce Cho to Cedric. Deep down, she envisioned Cedric enjoying the time he spent with her and eventually falling for instead, like she had read in all those romantic stories, but in reality she knew that nobody was going to give up on their quest to earn a date with Cho. There was to be no happy ending except for Cho, if you could call his eventual untimely death such. It surely pained and Marietta loathed Cedric sometimes, even though she never had anything ill to say about him. He was always nice to her and he did introduce her to boys he thought she would find interesting. Then came his death, Cedric Diggory was dead, and who was responsible? Yes... Harry Potter. Him she could lash out at, he was the last one that saw Cedric and he refused to share anything about him in his last moments. It saw an entire year follow, with her listening to all the wonderful experiences between Cho and Cedric, while consoling her best friend each time she would break down into tears. Marietta had nobody to speak to about it for nobody was ever supposed to know about her feelings. She sometimes felt angry when she thought about the interest in Harry Cho shared, earning her best friend a hint of antipathy. Marietta felt like it was a betrayal of Cedric’s memory.

“Katherine you are so right...” Marietta said, interrupting her.

“Oh I am? That’s great, I am hardly ever...”

“Everything you said, I think it’s true! I expect too much from people! Just like my mother does! Oh my god... I am her!”

“That’s great! I wish I was more like my mother. She is very, very pretty... can’t say the same about daddy though...”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Marietta chuckled again. “I expect that everybody should put in the same amount of effort into the relationship that I do! Because I expect that, I am worried right now about losing them because I have failed to meet expectations as a friend too. They don’t know about some things I did, so they won’t have anything to remember good about me...”

“I am sorry to hear that Marie, I mean... but likewise, so do us. We don’t know how much others sacrifice for us, like you sacrificed being in the room that day I was sad. Of course that’s different because I am aware that you did. Maybe some things are better left unsaid? Then, you also think we should not linger and just be honest with each other...”

“Perhaps I need to reconsider. It is true... honesty is the best policy, however some things really shouldn’t be said if it would hurt somebody dear to you.”

“That’s why I hide my suspicions about your scarf sometimes...”

“That’s why I hide my suspicions about you too Katherine...”

“You are suspicious about me?”

“I find it strange that someone as happy and exciting as you are can get that depressed. Why are you in here?”

“That won’t hurt me... in fact it hurt me that you didn’t ask me before...”

“It did? I am sorry I didn’t Katherine,” She pondered over it, why didn’t she ask? She thought that she was selfish, for letting her problems be her main concern over others who clearly had worst issues. Marietta knew however that she was always intrigued but never thought the time was right to ask. With that she quickly recalled her day on top of the roof, finding the reason to best explain why she did. “I thought Katherine, that when you were ready you would tell me. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Thanks... that’s very nice of you to think about me like that.”

“Of course, what are friends for?”

Katherine, with wavering eyes beheld Marietta. “Thank you, Marietta.”

“No thank you, thank you Katherine for being there for me too.”

 

Marietta realised just how much she cherished these little things while she and Katherine chatted away into the evening. Being an only child often limited these mini bonds, bonds that she often grew jealous of when she saw other siblings. It would have been nice to have someone there, especially with the whole rift between her mom and dad. It was hard at times, sitting on the stairwell while they would bicker and argue over pretty much the simplest of things. It was never cute like was expected of a couple. In fact it was definitely something no couple should engage in. She would sometimes yearn for someone to talk to, someone who would understand just how difficult things were.

In some ways, Marietta relished her Hogwarts escape. It kept her away from home, and she enjoyed the company of her friends. Maybe they were all spoilt brats with judgmental attitudes, but she certainly felt accepted. She looked forward to their many gatherings, their many gossips and rumours, and their conquests with the opposite sex. It was something new to Marietta in many ways as she couldn’t quite speak of that with her mother. She was only supposed to be focussed on school. In many ways however, Marietta loved school. She hated that while most of the students would be away for term and only see their parents back on the holiday, she didn’t. Whatever apparition rule existed in Hogwarts, they always lifted it at special, arbitrary times on Friday evenings for parents wanting their children back home. Marianne always ensured her daughter returned home on the weekends, a trend which halted in her sixth year when Marietta was constantly booked with detention while her mother was swamped with work.

Back at home, it was much easier without the banter from her mother and father, but again she would be alone. She would miss her friends, while her mother would insist she dedicated certain times of the day to study, which often resulted in them unable to meet halfway. She would rage to herself, and jot her feelings into her diary, an act she had eased up on because it often took the hate away and she had nothing to vent about to her friends.

Given everything that unfolded towards the end of her last school term, she noticed just how much she had grown into a recluse, taking only her issues with her. She would sit in the shadows, refusing to look at the mirrors (the ones that still remained in her room) and just weep into her hands. As was customary she began touching her face, feeling every pimple scattered so recklessly across her face. If not for that, she would study her reflection and be so consumed by her faith. She had lost many of her friends, but sitting here with Katherine now she noticed she had also gained so much and she had completely disregarded all of her new found wealth. She felt selfish. The guilt of forgetting about Mesut cropped up and she felt a bit alleviated of it when she reflected on their wonderful afternoon together.

Now, she felt like she had taken Katherine for granted. Dr. Bridge was right, she developed a good rapport with everyone, but she didn’t give any of them a chance to know her. As Katherine had suggested, people don’t always match up to the other’s expectation. She felt as though Katherine certainly did her best to be a friend, and now Marietta decided to at least try to match the expectation of a friend Katherine would have wanted. They both hid their suspicions about each other. Katherine certainly seemed surprised that Marietta was interested. As Marietta noticed, Katherine was now chattering very casually, fending off the need to be on fire with her conversations, when someone was able to keep her sustained. All it took was for somebody to make an effort. That’s all it took. Maybe that was all I wanted from Cho, more of an effort. Adamant to make up for her poor friendships, Marietta decided to inquire about Katherine.

Listening intently to Katherine’s story, Marietta was amazed at just how descriptive she was. Her flare and rapid fire speech, despite their superfluous content, kept her tale from being anything but prosy. With a sharp mind of that becoming of a Ravenclaw student, Marietta enjoyed it immensely, and made mental notes of the many things she always found interesting but never learned in great detail at school. Such things included time turners, which were the main stars of Katherine’s picture.

Katherine was, as everyone would have suspected, diagnosed with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This diagnosis however was not made until a couple of years ago, and given the way her life was affected as a result, Marietta could not help but empathise with her. She took from Katherine’s tale that she was super smart, partly due to the fact that she attended one of the most renowned all girl’s school in the world. She attended the Salem Witches’ Institute of the United States. It was a school Marietta’s mother had studied intently before sending her daughter to Hogwarts. Katherine was sorted into the Belabour Division, her school’s equivalent of Hogwarts’ Ravenclaw.

Befitting of her division’s name, Katherine was a very assiduous student and in her epithet of liking many things, she was unable to decide upon subjects she would pursue in her third year of school. Her subject count was baffling to even one of Ravenclaw’s top students, but Marietta knew her mother would have loved it. Maybe she would have pushed for it had it not been for the fears of misusing a time turner, which Katherine was given to keep with her strict, belaboured schedule of twelve subjects.

Time turners were among the most dangerous tools in Wizardry, ranked second on the top five most virulent objects in history. Time-related magic is unstable, and serious breaches in the laws of time result in catastrophic events. These events are unclear and uncertain, as the only issues that can be listed are those known about in history, or those that are not even known about due to the popular anomaly known as un-birth. As Katherine began describing, Marietta had a blurred memory of seeing her mother reading the paper and pointing out an article to her as she expressed why she wished the Ministry would put a ban on them. The article, in the Wizarding World Newspaper was titled: British Witch at Salem’s diagnosed with ADHD as a result of Time-Turner.

Katherine, the witch diagnosed with ADHD, was accidentally exposed to a Memory Charm more popularly known as the Forgetfulness charm, during a Charm’s class in her third year. Luckily, it was from another learning student, so the effect was not as bad. She was properly tended to by Healers, and the only memory loss she suffered was not remembering anything in class moments before being hit with the charm.

Fully recovered though, Katherine used the time turner to attend the five classes that were on a parallel time slot to that particular Charms class. As time progressed her grades began dropping severely. Her friends, teachers and parents had also noticed her random deviations on topics and short term memory. That was when the Healers diagnosed her with ADHD. They kept her in the hospital for observations and uncovered the cause for this disorder. By returning to classes on par with the Charms lesson, the effect of the charm would not have been cured in that particular time continuum, and thus it had taken a toll on her cerebrum each time she reversed the hands of time. With her naturally quick and sharp mentality, combined with the somewhat deterioration in her cerebrum, Katherine found it very difficult to focus on any one thing. 

On further inquiry, Marietta found out that Katherine was on medication for ADHD. With an interest in Healing, Marietta had studied on the many medications that existed, and knew all about Bupropion and the many side effects. It explained to her all about Katherine’s mood swings. While the antidepressant treated several conditions such as depression, studies have shown that a small percentage of people who took them could experience worsening depression. Dr. Bridge, as Katherine explained was attempting to get her off of the drug. She realised that Katherine had no other side effects until her medical treatment started. Therapy had also shown that given the right support and assistance, Katherine could be made to complete any task, much like Marietta was assisting her in keeping with the story.

“Oh are you all right Marie?” Katherine asked.

“I am sorry,” Marietta sniffed and used part of her scarf to dry some of the tears. She didn’t realise what had happened. Her eyes were watering and her throat was clenched. She felt so much sympathy for Katherine. Fear struck her nerves. She imagined how hard it must have been for someone’s life to change so suddenly. It was easy to slip on Katherine’s shoes and ponder over their situations being reversed. “I am just, really sorry to hear that Katherine.”

“Oh I shouldn’t have told you! Oh it’s my fault!”

“No! It’s not that,” realising that Katherine probably couldn’t fully understand what happened she attempted to change her meaning into something else. “I just think a time turner is so scary you know? How it could dramatically change someone’s life.”

“Yes, ADHD is a scary thing! I am lucky I wasn’t un-born or something! Did you use a time turner too? Is that why you’re here? Oh! Unless you’re not ready to tell me...”

“No no! Ha, ha. I was just... worried.”

“Oh gosh, no! Don’t be worried...”

“No, I am fine, I am fine. I will tell you about me.”

“Yes, let’s start with your name! Do they call you Marie or Mariette?”


	12. Story time.

His face tensed as usual, but its soft tone remained as his cheeks flushed red under her gaze. Marietta had certainly perfected her eye gestures to match her reactions. She was happy and proud of him. She joined in the applause that ignited the room after Dr. Lawson uncovered his painting canvas. Mesut’s chest seemed a bit more puffed now, something that Katherine, sitting beside her thought fit to point out. He turned away hurriedly as he saw her fingers on him.

“I love the attention to detail, you are certainly a natural. I love how the tears are flowing out of her hands. It truly is an interesting story Mesut, do share it with us?”

He grew uneasy at the question and shoved the parchment containing his essay into the teacher’s hand. “Thank you sir, but... I will pass?”

“Well I don’t think you should. Everybody here is interested, and who else will know the story better than you?”

Gloomily Mesut turned away, scanning the room seeing all the faces looking at him. All except t he one he was taking comfort from. Marietta was looking at him. Her face reflected in his mind and he smiled. He thought it unfair that he did not have the ability to see it right now, and that someone as beautiful as her had to live that way. She shot him a stern look, one that usually would have startled him, but he put the eyes onto the face in his mind and saw her face cringing angrily yet smiling. He beamed and stammered as he turned back to the professor. “All right, I will just give a synopsis?”

“Yes by all means...”

His drawing was the very same that Marietta had first seen. In fact, it represented her view and not what Mesut had envisioned. He left the person with their face buried in their palms. Droplets of tears were spilling, obviously rendered haphazardly at the stern hands embedded into the face. Red, curly hair draped over her head, lying upon her shoulders. She was crying. Why was she crying? Well, Mesut pointed out that nobody knew and nobody would ever know as it was an experience that could only be known and understood by somebody who had faced it. Only when they were most comfortable around somebody their story will become known.

Dr. Lawson was scribbling in his notebook during the explanation, something that Marietta observed annoyed Mesut. He took it in good stride though and turned to the crowd. Once again, he was greeted with applause, lead by Katherine. Her head was nodding approvingly. Marietta joined in, truly pleased that his work represented her and that he even changed his impression based on what she had endured. Dr Lawson stood up and offered a hand to Mesut, who took it after due consideration. He congratulated him and explained the moral of his story, stressing further on the points developed.

“Now, I think we have our final person yes? Marietta...”

Mesut started clapping as she stood up. She stared at him slightly embarrassed. His sudden stoppage though went unnoticed as everybody else followed on cue. He walked by, grinning at her as he returned to his seat. With a flick of his wand, Dr. Lawson had Mesut’s board pushed aside, and Marietta’s canvas arrived in its stead. She noticed Dr. Bridge standing just inside the door way, greeting her with a smile. Emily returned the courtesy with a nod. Dr Lawson had returned to his seat, leaving her to pull off the drapes from her own canvas. He looked at her and acknowledged her to proceed.

“Abra Kedabra...” she mumbled and pulled it off. She heard some of her wall of fame confidants erupt with exasperated sighs. There on the canvas stood the picture Mesut had assisted her with, now ruined, she thought, by her attempts at fixing the distorted eyes and nostrils. It left discolorations under the eyes and nose, totally displaying the rough edges on her paint brush, but it was hardly visible, unless you looked at it up close. The smudges though were no longer discernible on the hair, but it was darker than before, and she even added more hair to block out all the imperfections. From Mesut’s perspective, which he shared with Marietta before the class, it looked like a guy had just woken up from bed with crust around the edges of his eye along with unkempt hair, yet, totally clean shaven and fresh faced.

“That’s truly nice Marietta; I am interested in hearing his backdrop...”

“Well sir, if I may. I would like to ask you what you think it is.”

Dr. Lawson eyed her for a moment, “It looks like a wizard posing for a Muggle camera, completely confused by the concept of it...” he grinned.

“Dr. Bridge?” Marietta said looking at her from across the room.

Emily smiled and stepped forward into the class to get a closer look at the picture. “I see someone paying attention to detail, attempting to cover their insecurities...”

Mesut scoffed, turning it into a cough when everyone looked at him.

Marietta laughed, “How you analyse these drawings is a great mystery to me Dr.... anyone else?”

“It looks like,” Katherine began lingering as her finger tapped at her chin. “Somebody is waiting for a person to be ready to share something, but has been rather unfortunate that the person has never been ready. Perhaps he was waiting for the girl in Mesut’s painting to share her story, and since so much time has gone by he has grown really wary and tired with the thoughts of figuring out what her problem is? Yes? No?”

“Excellent view Katherine,” Marietta stated with a snicker.

 

The session proved to be quite fun as the rest of the students voiced their opinions. Some found it hilarious, others found it fascinating. Andy shared the opinion that the character resembled him, for he had broad shoulders, an attractive looking face and perfect posture. Several snickers filled the room, mainly from his compatriots Phil, Doug and Stuart. They interrupted adding that like Andy, the character was rough around the edges. The room erupted in laughter and even Andy could not contain himself from joining in.

“Truly some impressive ideas class, but Miss Edgecombe,” Marietta scowled, presuming Dr. Bridge’s wicked smile saw through her scarf. “What is the true story behind him?” asked Dr. Lawson.

“True story sir... well, that is it exactly: there is none!”

He smiled, “Do enlighten us...”

“Well... he has a story, but how could any of us truly know what it is? Things are not always as they seem. We’ve heard a lot of wonderful ideas, or speculations into what his story was, but that is just based on our impressions. He could defy all of us and turn out to have a completely different story.”

“That is rather interesting Marietta, why did you choose to go this route?”

“Well sir, it’s just that I sort of learned a valuable lesson being here. A lot of the times we are all afraid of what other people would think about us. It is important for us to never forget that people will always have an opinion about something, but that does not make it true.”

“That is quite insightful Marietta,” Emily declared as she approached the desk, “I am very proud of you.”

“I had some help along the way, thank you Dr. Bridge...”

“Surely it was not all me...” she responded, looking, with Marietta back to the class. Mesut saw them and turned his head away striking up a conversation with Andy. “He mentioned to me what you did... that was wonderful...”

“It’s the will of my mother to ensure that I do my homework...” Marietta teased.

“Miss Edgecombe, I think you did a wonderful job too,” started Dr. Lawson, “Your work must also be commended... much improved both artistically and mentally.”

“Thank you sir, art is so much fun... but I don’t have the acquired skill to do it...”

“Well, art isn’t just about drawings and paintings, art can take many different forms. Like today, your work took the form of telling a story, and you surely sent your message across to everybody.”

“Truly Marietta,” Dr Bridge said, “you certainly learned a lot from art. Such as being able to express yourself, much like Mesut did with his story. His story says that he prefers being left alone until he is ready to interact. Likewise your story is one that is open for interpretation. I think now you understand yourself much more than just what is on the surface. There is so much more to you!”

“Thank you so much, Professors, I very much appreciated this and I have surely learned a lot.”

“I look forward to that final session with you Marietta...” Emily announced.

“Me too Dr. Bridge, I truly think there is a lot of progress you have to see!”

Mesut escaped the conversation with Andy and his friends when he saw Marietta and Katherine walking out of class. He approached them smiling, uttering beneath his breath, “Very good drawings guys...”

“Oh! I was so nervous about showing it, I usually am when it comes to showing my work because I don’t think I am very good, and that doubt creates uncertainty, and then I just lose it...”

“We had a good teacher,” Marietta said helping Katherine find her pause.

“I had good students, but I would appreciate if we kept that our little secret... I don’t want people thinking I taught you how to draw that!” Mesut teased.

“You certainly lost it this time Marietta, your house drawing was way better!” Katherine declared.

Mesut laughed as Marietta conceded defeat, “Well it was time for the true artist to get his work up there, I am very proud of you Mesut...”

“I am too,” Katherine added.

“That means a lot, thanks... anyway I was wondering Marietta... and you too Katherine... since tomorrow is our last day here before getting back to school and such, we should have dinner tonight, you know like our last summer activity.”

“That sounds good, I will be present.” Marietta stated matter-of-factly.

“I would consider it,” said Katherine unable to covertly give a wink to Marietta.

Mesut acted like he didn’t notice, “Well that would be great... I would like...”

“Excuse me...”

Marietta’s eyes opened wide, and her face grew red, this time however not for the speaker but out of shame that Mesut and Katherine noticed.

“Hello Tom,” said Katherine smiling.

“Hello Katherine... Mesut,” he looked to the back of Marietta’s head, “and Marietta.”

She turned to look at him, “Yes I am sorry, I was in the middle of a conversation... as you were saying Mesut?”

Mesut seemed a bit discomfited but a slight smirk formed at his lips, “No it’s fine...”

“No go ahead, pardon the interruption...” Marietta glared.

“She is right, go ahead...” said Tom.

“I feel very uncomfortable right now,” Katherine stated without further indulging into conversation.

“Well yeah, so I will see you at dinner... I am going to spend some time with Andy for a little while. He is pretty down that I am leaving... Katherine, I would like it if you come too... okay as you would...” he smiled and walked off to Andy.

“Bye,” Marietta said, still keeping her back turned on Tom.

“You don’t suppose he went over there because he was uncomfortable being around here do you?” asked Katherine slightly perplexed and startled at Marietta’s fierce gaze.

“There is no need to be uncomfortable,” Tom started, “I just wanted to apologise to Marietta for yesterday.”

“Okay,” Marietta responded imperturbably, walking away.

 

Katherine flushed with embarrassment as she looked at Marietta withering away. She saw Tom looking genuinely disappointed, so she returned an awkward, wide grinned smile.

“She won’t speak to me...”

“Well Tom can you blame her? She told me what happened... I am appalled at you!”

“I am appalled at myself,” he said.

“Well you have every right to be! You were such a git!”

“I was, and I am terribly sorry...”

“Terribly sorry to me never makes it sound good,” Katherine said, placing her hand on her mouth to fight her urge of responding.

“Well that’s just it then... it was terrible of me, even though it didn’t happen that way...”

“What do you mean it didn’t happen like that? How else can you explain?”

“It’s complicated...”

“What you said about her? She already has so much stuff going on and you should have known better, but you badgered her and insulted her... you were the last person she would expect that from!”

“Katherine. Listen...”

“She thought you cared about her, but clearly she was wrong! I also think she was wrong to be that rude to you, but then again you deserved it! Maybe I shouldn’t be speaking to you either... oh my gosh! She is going to think I betrayed her too...”

“Katherine please listen to me... it didn’t happen like she thought, I know how it sounds. I know how it looks, but... you have to believe me.”

“How else could it have happened?”

Tom winced, relieved only when she actually studied him and said nothing more. “Okay well, it’s pretty complicated Katherine... let me explain.” Though a bit of struggle, Tom managed to tell his story, twirling minor details to help support his positive outlook. “So that’s it basically, I was... trying to get them off my back and hers, and instead I just made a huge mess of everything. If I could take it back I would, but the last thing I would want to do was hurt her feelings.”

Katherine at long last found herself unable to speak. She was replaying the story over in her head, analysing the bits and specks of it. “Wow, it sounds like a true misunderstanding don’t you think?”

Tom nodded, “Yeah...”

“It also sounds fishy...”

“Well I wish you would help me get her to listen to and forgive me...”

“Okay, Tom I will help you...”

“Thank you so much Katherine, so you don’t think it’s fishy?”

“Oh Tom, I think it is very suspicious that everything just happened so coincidentally.”

“So why bother helping me?”

“Well, I learned from somebody pretty close to me, that things are not always as they seem...”


	13. Things are not always as they seem.

Marietta draped her scarf across her face, wrapping it into a bandana around her forehead. Her red hair fluttered back, swathing about her shoulders. She looked into the mirror expecting the usual dread to fall upon her. She was satisfied that her face was secured, even though it didn’t bring as much protection as the shemagh wrap. On one hand, it mattered little to her as she now felt very comfortable around Mesut and as he had been very nice and supportive ever since seeing her face she had no qualms. On the other hand however, since her run in with Tom she found her insecurities coming up again. She decided that this was her last night and she deserved to look better. It had been so long and none of the other patients seemed to care that she had a scarf on for her entire time here.

She stepped back to get a view of her attire in the mirror. She smiled now satisfied how she looked. She wore a blue dress that ran down to her knees, which was covered by dark-blue leggings, scattered with grey highlights. It helped make her dress stand out, and the dark grey scarf she wore was a perfect blend with her clothes. She titled her head and posed in the mirror, admiring how her hair dangled behind her, her curls folding in towards her face. It had grown a lot over the summer and she was investigating now with how she could hang her curls in front of her face when she returned to school. Very intriguing she thought.

“Oh Marie, you look splendid!” Katherine declared as she popped up behind her in the mirror.

“Thank you so much, so do you Katherine!”

“Me? No...” she bent down studying her clothes. “These jeans haven’t been washed since I been here... I wanted too but I only brought two pairs with me, and I washed the other, and you know how they get so tight afterwards! So I thought I would preserve this one...”

“Oh, it looks clean,” Marietta lied, trying to see if she could make out anything dirty.

“It’s probably this fluorescent light...”

“Your top looks beautiful though...” Marietta stated, intrigued by the zebra patterned tunic. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, it feels a bit exhilarating that we won’t be walking down here for dinner again doesn’t it?”

“It is. I will miss you Katherine...”

“Me too, don’t forget me all right?”

“No of course not, whenever I am getting dinner I will surely remember you...”

Katherine snickered, and they looked at each other for a while. Marietta approached her and threw her arms around her. Katherine returned the embrace.

“You sure you don’t want to be with Mesut alone tonight?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just dinner... but maybe afterwards you can leave us?” Marietta winked. Katherine returned the look and nudged Marietta.

“You got it! I will stay alert!”

 

“Seriously, don’t you guys think this is too much?” Mesut asked as Phil assisted him in putting on his blazer.

“Stop your complaining...” Andy said, as he began wrapping a yellow and green striped tie around Mesut’s neck.

“Seriously that tie Andy?” judged Phil.

“Oh don’t worry with him Andy, I like it.” Doug added, trying to get Phil to stay calm.

Stu was chuckling, “Mesut, stop being so frantic, you look nice.”

“I... can’t... breathe... Andy...” Mesut gasped as he grabbed at his neck.

Andy quickly slackened it, “Oh sorry, I haven’t done this since my graduation ball...”

“Yeah because you graduated...” Phil teased.

“Hey, just because I didn’t doesn’t mean the ball was closed to the students!” Andy said glaring at his friend.

“Okay, that’s enough you two!” Mesut said. “Do I really need to wear all of this, I look ridiculous.”

“And you think wearing oversized sweaters make you look good?” Doug asked.  
“My father bought this blazer for Andy for his hearing in a few days! It’s twice my size!”

“My opinion?” asked Phil ignoring his complaints. “Lose the tie. But you do look really good, what do you think?”

Mesut looked in the mirror flushing with unease, still feeling incredibly overdressed. He wore a white, long sleeved shirt that went inside his brown, denim pants that matched the brown blazer.

“Look, don’t be shy. You’re looking really good. Marietta will love this...” Doug said.

“What? No... I don’t care what Marietta thinks...”

“If you shaved that Andy-like moustache I bet we would be able to see how red your face is right now,” Stu snickered.

“Hey! Chicks love the hair...” Andy claimed.

“He is speaking from experience guys! Seriously Mesut, will you?” asked Phil.

“No, you said it was the beard or the clothes...”

“Fine... but you already look great. You shave that off and Marietta will be staying in your room tonight!”

Mesut grinned embarrassingly, “Stop it... it’s not like that.”

“Well you’re already off to a negative start aren’t you? Just be positive and it will be like that.”  
Mesut chuckled, and looking on in the mirror he continued trying to adjust his clothes.

“You look good,” Andy said with a shoulder over him.

“Thank you...”

“You’re one of the wolf pack now. In fact, you might be the next leader after I am done...”

Mesut smiled as he looked in the mirror. Andy’s eyes were on him, oblivious to the silent laughter among his companions behind them.

“Long live the leader... I will gladly remain second in command.”

“Don’t always take a back seat all right? You be in charge! Go brave tonight, don’t be second okay?”

 

Marietta was taken aback when Mesut popped up in the corridor. He strolled with his head staring at the floor, which allowed her a moment to look at him and absorb this unique attire he wore. On seeing her looking back, he adjusted his blazer and smiled at her, nervously double checking to ensure he had taken off the tie on his way there.

“Hi...” he said.

“My, you look rather dashing...”

He stammered, “You too,”

“Thank you, you couldn’t have shaved though hmm?” she teased.

“Couldn’t get that scarf off?” He winced, “I am sorry...”

“Oh no, don’t worry,”

“It was insensitive,”

“No it’s fine, but I did change it for this one, so that counts as something different...”

“Well, I can’t be too dashing tonight, wouldn’t want you feeling overwhelmed,”

“Fair enough,” she chuckled.

“Have your eyes always been that brown? I mean, it’s just more noticeable now...”

“I think I could teach you a thing or two about accents... mister artist.”

“Well, you are a hall of famer after all...”

“Oh shut up,” she laughed, turning away and flicking her hair in his direction.

He approached her, “So want to get dinner?”

“Please, I am starving...”

He made to put a hand on the small of her back but lingered. “Err, let’s go...” he walked beside her, “Ladies first?”

“Why thank you...”

 

Had it not been for Katherine’s presence serving as an anchor, Marietta figured Mesut would have drifted away with the current. He was extremely nervous as she noticed, and he seemed uncertain what to do whenever she adjusted her scarf to put her fork of bacon in her mouth. When their eyes did connect, he would turn away hoping to make her feel less uncomfortable. Their conversation was splendid however, never for a moment creating any awkward tension as Katherine rambled on and on, giving them many topics to discuss in the process.

The most intriguing of those topics however were on their future careers. Mesut was planning to attend an art school, but it seemed like a task for him as it would take some convincing of his parents. Marietta, though still uncertain about her future, mentioned the thought of being a Healer, as she garnered respect for their hard work and efforts at trying to help her. Deep down though, she wanted to do it to be better than them, and to save others from having to suffer like she did. Probably that was an urge made by the competitive nature her mother had instilled within her. Katherine on the other hand, was definitely uncertain. She had a liking for many things, and given her diagnosis of ADHD, it was impossible for her to select something to focus on in her N.E.W.T.S.

Dr. Bridge had taught Marietta that someone needed to be willing to change in order for that to happen, so together with Mesut, she tried to encourage her to drop the intention of selecting a vast load of subjects. Typical arguments to justify their points were how inessential all those courses would be pertaining to the goals she had in mind (which kept changing) as it didn’t require all of that background. It was enough for her to mull over giving Mesut and Marietta time to continue their conversation.

Marietta grew a hint of resentment at Mesut as she inquired more into his story. His parents sounded horrible, and it made her appreciate her mother more and more. As much as Miss Edgecombe came down hard on her, she had the best interests at heart. Though, maybe that was after she had totally brainwashed Marietta into desiring to be a professional. Nevertheless, Marietta couldn’t see herself doing anything less than her ingratiated ambition. To be in Mesut’s predicament was worse. They came down hard on him for doing something that he loved, and something he was exceptional at. Clearly they favoured his brother from what she learned, but there was little resentment or envy between the brothers. They were close, but it seemed like they managed to convert all of his beliefs to suit their wants, so he had their worldview and at times would discourage Mesut wholeheartedly from pursuing his dream of being an artist. This lead to their mini separation, at least from Mesut’s point of view as he started being a lot more introverted. Before long, he had cut ties with his family. Despite that not being realistically true, they definitely didn’t show much concern that he had grown distant with them. Even though they did everything they could do to get him at the best hospital in the Wizarding world, he had the impression that they remained ashamed of his problem and went ahead on their trip.

Summer is for vacation though, and there was little time for anybody to dedicate to someone else. Maybe it was a demanding want to have people take time out of their vacation for you, but if you truly cared about someone perhaps that would be of no concern. Mesut shared some insight on the letter from Cho, modified when Marietta told him her story about Dolores Umbridge, the group and how she caused the rift between Cho and Harry. Perhaps she simply needed some space, maybe she needed time for own issues or perhaps she thought she was responsible for Marietta’s situation. It was an uncertainty, but Marietta decided that she should take comfort in getting a response. Maybe things were not as they seem. Whatever the story was she would find out when she saw Cho again as she decided to restrain from writing her back until a better response.

As the conversation shifted gears to something more fitting for a group of teenage wizards, the caterer had walked over and inquired if they needed anything else before she returned to closing up her station. She was very nice though and set three cups of tea at the counter for them as she left. They loved her tea, and to get a treat like this was very lovely. They rushed through their dinner. Katherine finished first and shot up feeling ill. She smiled at Marietta when Mesut focussed on scooping his last bits of rice.

“Could you walk me back to my room Marietta? I think I want to go lay down...”

Marietta stalled, unclear about what was on the agenda. Why are you asking me to come with you!? “Oh okay, I will... let me get you your tea though...”

“Thanks...”

“Mesut do excuse us for a moment?”

“Yes. It’s fine. I will just finish up.”

“I am not really sick, not really. I just thought it was time for me to go, as there is nobody else in the food court.” Katherine declared, despite snickering on exit from the food court. They were rounding the corridor to the reception desk on the way back to their room.

“Well, that was an intriguing trick. You didn’t have to leave though, everything was fine...”

“Well I hope you won’t hate me,” Katherine said continuing amiss Marietta’s claiming of how impossible that would be. “I heard his story, and you did teach us that things are not always as they seem so please listen to him all right?”

Before Marietta could question her, she saw Tom at the seating area adjacent to the reception desk. He stood up and smiled at her. She turned away and glared at Katherine.

“Would you call “this” hitting two birds with one stone Marietta?” Katherine asked.

“I wouldn’t mind hitting him...”

“This violence, it must stop!”

“I won’t act like I didn’t hear any of that, but I suppose I would deserve a punch from you Marietta.” Tom said in his cool, calm voice.

“What do you want? Shouldn’t you be home or partying or something? Or are you trying to clear your conscience here?”

“Well... I should be gone, but I just think I owe you an apology. I don’t need to clear my conscience, I was wrong and I deserve this. I want you to feel better is all, and I think you deserve to hear what happened.”

Marietta was not interested, but Katherine reminded her of her lesson from class earlier that day. “Things are not always as they seem right? Why not listen to him?”

“Okay Thomas, what do you have to say?”

“Well things are not always as they seem, and I was trying to show those jerks that...”

“That Stephanie doesn’t have any competition? Look, I know she is beautiful Tom. I can admit that, but to say those things about me...”

“Look, I know that I can’t explain myself out of this one, but I can show you what happened.”

“I think you showed me enough when I walked in...”

“No well. This time, how about my perspective? I heard your piece on the story today, and I believe only the person involved will know the story right? How about seeing it from my view?”

“How do you suppose we’d do that?”

 

To the back of the reception desk Marietta saw Tom lift a steel covering from over a huge stone foundation, with a shallow basin at the top, glittering in a shade of silver. It was a Pensieve. She knew what it did and had investigated with one in her prior year at school. “That’s a Pensieve...”

“Yes, most hospitals usually keep one to store memories of patients whose families might probably be interested in keeping it, providing the person wanted it to be delivered,”

“Or in some cases, Aurors trying to solve a crime might get the memory from a severely critical patient?” Marietta asked with a bit of pride at how much she remembered.

“Yes, you do know your stuff. How would you like to solve this crime that I committed?”

“I don’t know... I don’t particularly like the idea of putting my face in water shrouded with a dead person’s memory...”

“Don’t worry, it isn’t like that,” he chuckled. “We store the memories elsewhere. This is just for viewing pleasure...”

“Okay...”

“I already put my memory in there, I am a bit new to memory extractions, so I don’t know how far back I took it, but... just remember I am a young boy if you see any weird things in there.”

“Perhaps I should just believe you...”

“Perhaps, but I doubt you would want to make it that easy.”

“No I don’t...”

 

Gravity was tugging at her as she fell, unable to find any strength to hold on. The hospital floor appeared as she came. She braced herself, but on landing there was no pain or anything. She picked herself up and saw Tom coming next, much more relaxed. He laughed at her for a bit.

“Where are we?”

“I think...” He didn’t have to explain. The door opened into the room they were at, and inside Marietta saw herself reaching for the mirror, with the streak of horror on her face as the door swung closed. Dr. Grant lead Tom, Asher, Frank and Stephanie outside and stopped right there in the corridor.

“So it won’t work Professor?” Tom asked.

“No Tom, just the matter of that Kingsfoil weed. I will give your group a B though...” She lingered as they expressed some disappointment on the matter. “You all are getting off lucky, you have a brilliant idea though, just had the wrong ingredient. I think you all may have helped her out, but the problem of course is that it may or may not have effect on her as we won’t be able to test it.”

“Dr. Grant, we explained in the discussion of the lab, um... the potion... that we were intending the Kingsfoil to paralyse it. The other bit that Frank designed was actually supposed to sustain the paralysis.”

“I am sorry Tom, but sustaining it could have eventually poisoned her...”

“If I may?” asked Frank. “Doesn’t Dragon blood heal burns and poisons?”

“Yes Professor, we added a bit of that in the initial potion we made before the Kingsfoil was applied.” Asher said. “So it turned grey, and that meant that the poison from the Kingsfoil would be extracted...”

“You used Dragon blood? Interesting...” Dr Grant for a moment pondered over the discussion.

“Am I supposed to understand any of this Tom?” Marietta asked the none-projected version.

“Well no, err just give it a moment?”

 

“Okay well, if that was the case then Group, I think it is a guarantee to work, even if we may not be able to test it in the short term. I will go talk to Miss Edgecombe, and if you guys can make this potion before she leaves for home, I will give you an A plus okay?”

The scene dissolved and Marietta felt as though she was being pulled away from the corridor they were standing in.

The lights were brighter in the new setting, and Marietta saw a number of people sitting together. She made out Tom, Frank and Asher sitting on a bench close to the door way. Stephanie was sitting opposite them, as she stated with a mocking tone, “What a loser.”

Tom turned to Marietta, “Um... Stephanie is a lot to handle... don’t be bothered by her okay?”

“She seems swell if you ask me,” Marietta responded sarcastically.

“Blimey, large purple pimples? That’s just hilarious... and I find it funny that it won’t go away. You all don’t actually think Dr. Grant’s idea will work do you?” asked one of the students.

“Oh, well... we will do it anyway. We are going to get an A plus for certain once we do it. Whether it works or not, it’s not really our concern, but for the effort we will do well,” boasted Stephanie again

The other students complained that their failure resulted in poor grades.

“So,” started another student, “we are being failed for someone being ugly?”

“She is not ugly!” snapped Tom, standing up from his bench.

“Oh, did I strike a nerve?” responded the boy.

“We are all Healers, it doesn’t matter what grade we get. We have a patient suffering...”

“Suffering, really? I don’t know what kind of ward rotations you get Tom, but that isn’t really a medical catastrophe,” replied Stephanie.

“Steph, it affects her a lot. She has to walk around hiding her face, ashamed. It may not bother her medically, but it is a malady and it makes her lose confidence in herself.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say Thomas has a bit of a thing for the girl,” said Gregory Johnson sitting next to Stephanie.

Tom as per usual, smiled receiving a mixed reaction from the group, except from Stephanie who seemed a bit flustered. Tom face recoiled as he pondered over their insinuations, finding it gross to like someone younger than him, still in school. “No, I am just saying she is a patient,”

“Yeah, a patient whom he went out with a few nights ago,” said Stephanie. Gregory leaded the whistles this time, asking Tom if he mixed his part time job with pleasure. Tom blushed immensely at the accusations, even more so when Frank and Asher looked at him with raised eyebrows, teasing him as well.

“Look it’s not like that she didn’t have anything to do...”

“Enter you...” said another student cackling in the corner.

“I have another round to do here this afternoon, I don’t have time to waste on you lot,” Tom announced picking up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder, “and I suggest you all get to yours too...”

Frank and Asher stood up and nodded at Tom, who returned a smile. Together they headed off with him towards the door. “I will walk you guys, I am heading to Block Thirteen right now.”

Frank entered in opening the door, greeting Marietta as she walked down the aisle. Asher nearly bumped into her, before blushing and stepping back for her to enter.  
Tom turned around angrily at Stephanie’s comment, “Look at you Tom, have to leave to avoid smiling. That’s exactly what someone does when hiding their feelings.” 

“What’s wrong with you guys, she is a patient...” stated Tom as Stephanie turned to Greg who rolled his eyes.

“Sure Tom, whatever you say...” she said as the other Healers giggled.

“Really guys, what’s wrong with you. Stephanie, do you feel like you have competition or something? She is young, and god, she looks so horrid and ugly, how the heck could you insinuate I like her. Have you seen her face? Unless of course, you have...”

Marietta saw herself waver for a moment, before pushing her way through nudging Tom in the process.

“Marietta, wait...” he called again as she opened the door. He walked towards her, “Marie!” but was too late. She stepped out and the door slammed shut behind her.

Gregory stood up as the door slammed smiling, “Ouch... that’s very smooth Tom!”

Stephanie chuckled before mockingly imitating Tom, “Marie! Marie!”

“Really is this funny? What the bloody hell is your problem Stephanie?”

“Excuse me? It seems like you’re the one with a problem!”

“No it seems like you do, do you feel like you have competition or something?”  
“No I don’t have any competition where she is involved...”  
“Why because you are perfect and she is not? Well I think you’re hurting so badly because you can’t have me. You know if she was older, unlike you she would actually have a chance? It’s a little something called personality Stephanie. Personality! I suggest you go find out what that is before you speak to me again.”

Stephanie was indeed taken aback as Gregory put an arm around her. Marietta noticed the other students sitting around exchanging looks of shock and approval of him humbling her ostentatious personality. She had never seen Tom’s face swell up with such anger and venom. His teeth gritted together and he was breathing heavily. He opened the door behind him and slammed it shut as he headed down the corridor, sliding both his hands through his mopped hair.”

 

With that, silvery glows filled the scene and Marietta felt like she was being pulled back up into the sky. Once again she felt her face immersed in the Pensieve, and quickly she pulled herself back up. Tom followed and looked at her for a moment.

Marietta staggered away from the Pensieve and used the desk to keep herself propelled.

“Yeah, you get used to that feeling after using it a few times.”

“Yeah, I went in on a full stomach too,” she said as she felt the room stop spinning.

Tom approached her smiling and placed both hands on her shoulder.

“So Marietta, are we good here?”

She blushed and bent her head down, looking at his chest printed out on his black shirt. She felt nervous staring at him so she looked back into his eyes. “Yes Tom, we are... you see how it could be misleading right?”

“Yes I see, but even so, I never should have said what I did, and I am sorry I even mentioned that or said that, but I was just trying to hit Stephanie really hard and teach her about personality, and you are a really nice person, so... but nevertheless, that was the last thing I thought about you.”

“Thank you for that Tom, I am... sorry...”

“No don’t be, it was a misunderstanding and my fault...”

“Okay, well I am sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain.” 

“Well the Pensieve was kind of fun, you looked pretty freaked...”

“It’s a good thing I had this on then?”

“Yes, but I can see a lot in people’s eyes. Especially beautiful ones like yours.”

“Thank you,”

“I also have some good news, we will be getting you that... cure tomorrow, and look, don’t be alarmed. We believe it will work. In theory, it will at least. We just can’t test it, and obviously you can’t stay here much longer.”

“I certainly wouldn’t mind staying here, I think this is a really nice place...”  
“It sure grows on you doesn’t it?” he smiled.

“Yes, but anyway thank you for sticking up for me.”

“No problem.”

“I however, have dinner plans right now... and I must be getting back.”

“Yeah that’s all right,” he smiled, and pressed onto her shoulders as he came forward and embraced her. She welcomed it and hugged him back.

“Thanks again,”

“You’re welcome. I hope everything works out with you.”

 

Just around the bend Mesut swung, holding two cups of tea. He stopped in his stride and saw Marietta and Tom release from an embrace, staring longingly into each other’s eyes. His glare tensed and he nodded his head, and without much linger, he headed back down the corridor where he came.


	14. The end of the summer vacation.

“Not to mince on my improvements here Dr. Bridge, I am still feeling insecure about this,” Marietta declared, eyes falling upon her scarf on the gigantic rectangular wooden desk that separated them. Emily had insisted Marietta remove it without much pressure. She found herself willing to comply though, albeit her insecurities cropping up the previous night. That however had very little to do with her face. It was the way the night had gone and she felt once again like she messed up.

After fixing her relationship with Tom she had returned to the food court finding only a cup of tea awaiting her. Mesut had vanished and after fifteen minutes of lingering, adequately enough time for her to finish her tea, she set out to his room. The only greeting she got was his roommate screaming from under the covers at her to keep the noise at a minimum. Most of his words were garbled though but she was grateful for them as it sounded like immense swearing. Without much else to do, she opted to check out the lounge area, but only found a few other ward patients there. She wondered if he was with the lot that went missing from the picture before her: the usual quadruple of Andy, Phil, Doug and Stuart. So after enduring one more moment of rage from his roommate, she wandered back to the reception desk, took a piece of parchment along with Rosie’s quill and left him a note.

Hello Mess, I don’t know where you ran off too so I am leaving this message for you. I don’t understand what happened. I will be in my room, so find me there! Hope everything is okay. However, she knew it probably wasn’t. Maybe she took a bit too long to get back. It would have only been a couple of minutes to take Katherine back to the room, but she didn’t plan for Tom to be there, with evidence of his none betrayal. Though it felt like an hour had gone by in the Pensieve, she knew it took only a matter of minutes to witness it. Maybe he had seen her with Tom, and concluded that she was like all the other people in his life who had disappointed him. Without much adieu, she decided to leave one last line. Remember, things are not always as they seem.

“I know Marietta,” Dr Bridge replied, “it will take some conditioning as you did spend most of your time here wearing it. Feeling insecure is of course natural. We all do it and I will not advise you against it, but I will ask: what do you think you should do about it?” She had a satisfied appearance, one that suggested her question was not rhetorical.

“Well, keep wearing my scarf for starters,”

“That surely can’t be the only solution right?”

“Well no, you were right. Around those I am most comfortable with, I will try to be without it.”

“That is a good start.”

“Will it really help?”

“Change doesn’t happen overnight, but you need to have the will and the desire to do that. By you actually doing my homework, it proves to me that you want the change.”

“I really do. Maybe I am going to live with these scars all my life, I am of course going to have to get used to it and find a way to deal with it.”

“And most importantly, don’t let it bring you down as much. You need to rise above this else it will do you more harm than good.”

“I don’t wish to go down that road again, I want this change.”

“Then you have not “minced” in your improvements.”

“So it’s fine for me to feel worried, to feel afraid of going back out there?”

“It is okay, once you don’t let that fear restrict you from doing or trying things.”

“Obviously, I don’t want to let it, but I am worried. I am ashamed as well. I am going back to school with this. Everyone is going to make fun of me. How am I expected to do anything without feeling insecure?”

“Why do you suppose they will make fun of you?”

“Well, I guess because they think I am ugly now...”

“Which would suggest that you were not before right?”

“Err... yeah I wasn’t.”

“Which tells you?”

“They are probably relishing a chance to find a flaw on me?”

“Exactly, Marietta... you are very beautiful, even as you are now with all of those pimples on your face.”

She lowered her eyes back to her scarf.

“You are... you have one boy right now heart wrenched over you.”

She blushed.

“People always judged you before I am sure, in school I sure judged the pretty and popular girls, and you know what? They were always ugly to me even though they were not. This face of yours just gives them something they could target, but before that I am sure they targeted your other qualities. Like can you think of a few things?”

“Yes they sure did Dr. Bridge. Not just me but all of my friends! They said things like I was stupid, my hair was abysmal! Yes it can be quite loud in the morning,”

“Straight hair is so bland anyway,” said Emily.

“It is, and of course people claiming things like your nose is too big, your eyes are too grainy, your eyebrows are arched awkwardly, your clothes are out of style... you’re fat...” Marietta laughed, widened by Dr. Bridge’s playful frown.

“See? And you were none of those things were you?”

“No, I wasn’t. Except now, I do have sneak printed on my face.”

“But are you a sneak?”

Marietta puffed her cheeks and stared at her scarf glittering with the rays of the sun. Those words sure stung. In fact, it was the first time she heard Dr. Bridge use the term as well. Her previous sessions flashed before her memory and she remembered everything. Am I a sneak?

She remembered Dolores Umbridge taking the class role for the first time, lingering on her name and warning her about her wrongs directly affecting her mother. Was it a false warning? It was not. Her mother would be packed with a load of extra work whenever she was “bad”. When Umbridge was on to the secret meetings of the DA, and suspected Marietta, she gave her detention. She made her spend hours on with the special quill, and similarly, she would have to watch her mother struggling with extra work for days. That was not fair. Her mother had been promoted just a few months before, after years of hard work. It was not right for some new person kissing up to the Minister deciding people’s faith like that. Ridden with guilt at knowing she was wrong, and in pain at seeing the turmoil her mother was in, Marietta decided to report the incident to her, leaving out the rest of the members. It was not enough. Umbridge badgered her to find out more information. It was too late to resist, the Inquisitional squad was on her, and Umbridge began threatening her mother’s job again. Then she decided it was time to just let everything be known, and then this happened.

Since being branded as a sneak, Marietta thought for long hours about how she betrayed everyone. She regretted it, but it was never her intention. She thought by coming clean with Umbridge to clear the accusations, it would have been enough. It wasn’t. Umbridge wanted more. The evil woman lied to her and threatened her further until she gave up all the information, igniting this problem to happen. Despite all of that, Marietta’s mother got fired immediately the next day because of her inability to recall the events of the DA, something that was modified momentarily by somebody present in that assembly to make her forget everything. She blamed herself intently for everything and she thought she was a traitor and had it all coming. Now however, she wasn’t. These things all played into her decision to do what she did. She was not a traitor. She just gave into months of torment and turmoil. She decided to give herself up for her mother’s sake, but instead she inadvertently sacrificed her friends. It was all complicated. It was not supposed to happen like this. She was not a snitch, she was not a sneak.

“No. I am not a sneak. I am not. Everything just unfolded in the worst possible way.”

“Indeed, you know how it was meant to be. You are not what people brand you... and do you know why?”

Marietta nodded, “Because most people will never be able to understand past what they see.”

“Yes. I am very proud of you Marietta.”

“Thank you.” 

“Look, I know it’s easier said than done of course, but you must always remember that what other people think about you is not as important as what you think about yourself. You have stopped blaming yourself, and you no longer see yourself as what other people saw you as. You know the truth. That is something you have achieved.”

“That’s a lot for me to be happy about indeed. Thank you so much Dr. Bridge, you really did help me see all of that.”

“No, I simply underlined that which you were overlooking. It was all you. You were the one who took something from all of that! You were the one who wanted the change. I am very happy at that.”

“I am very happy too Dr. Bridge, thank you for everything.”

“I see that we have enough time left to go further in depth,” Dr Bridge said looking at the hour glass, the base of which was now halfway filled, “but I think I am going to have to kick you out now. I think we have covered everything, and it is your last day here, so maybe you should take it easier.” 

“Bored of me already doctor?”

“Of course I am. There is nothing left to cure here.”

“Well Dr. Bridge, I won’t say everything has...” Marietta stood up and reached for her scarf. She draped it over her neck and smiled. “I will however accept your dismissal. I do have some things to tend to.”

Dr Bridge got up beaming, “I am glad I could help, of course if you ever need to contact me again,” She picked up a plaque card on her desk and walked over to Marietta, “Feel free to write to me and we will schedule again.”

“Thank you,” Marietta responded, gratefully accepting it before teasing Dr. Bridge. “I will try to squeeze you in some time. After all I will be very busy on my N.E.W.T.S now!”

“I am sure you of all people will be able to cope with that. You take care, Marietta,” she extended a hand to shake. Marietta studied it for while.

“You too,” she didn’t shake hands however. Instead she gave Emily a hug. “Thanks so much for everything.”

“It was my pleasure. You don’t ever have to thank me.” 

Marietta smiled, and with that she walked towards the door. “Goodbye Dr. Bridge...”

Emily held the door open for her and smiled, “Goodbye Marietta, and remember things are not always as they seem!”

Katherine was standing excitedly by the reception desk, chatting away with Rosietta. There were two older people beside her that could be easily deduced as her parents. Her mother had the same shining blonde hair and her father seemed very happy as he joined in on the conversation, with that same excited anticipation in his words. Katherine turned to Marietta, back protected by her scarf, as she approached the desk. She beamed, “Marie! I had to convince them to wait! I overslept! Didn’t get to see you this morning,”

“Oh you’re leaving already? I am going to miss you!”

“I will miss you too! You are my best friend in the whole world! Well maybe not in the whole entire world as we only knew each other for a few months, but you are!”

“I am happy to be, and you are my best friend in the world too!” They hugged tightly and Marietta found herself reflecting on their time together, especially the night prior when she returned to her room. They stayed up chatting for hours before they dozed off, which Marietta did not quite remember happening.

“Write to me all right? I will take great care of Fluttery when he comes!”

“I know you will...”

“Mom, Dad... this is Marietta!” Katherine exclaimed as she turned around facing them. “I am sorry it was rude of me to not introduce her! It was rude of me to not introduce you to them!”

“Hello Mr and Mrs. Sinclair,” Marietta smiled and approached them. Mr. Sinclair shook her hand, and excitedly introduced himself and continued speaking, though not in the hyper manner as his daughter, as she hugged Mrs. Sinclair.

“Any friend of Katherine is invited to our homes, so visit anytime you wish to okay?” Mrs. Sinclair said.

“I will remember that. The same goes for her at my home as well...” Marietta shrugged as she imagined the face of her mother seeing her friends show up randomly, if it ever came to that before the stern “No!” she would get when asked.

“I told you all she is very sweet! One of the sweetest people in the whole world! Well, she actually isn’t that sweet as she tells me, but everybody has an evil side to them. It’s a balance right dad?” Katherine asked smiling.

Approvingly he chuckled, “That’s right!” He looked at Mrs. Sinclair for a slight second, enough to signal his readiness to leave. “It was wonderful meeting you Marietta, but our train leaves in less than a few minutes...”

“Nice meeting you Marietta! Hope to see you again.”

They smiled and said their goodbyes to Rosietta, leaving Marietta and Katherine alone for a few.

“So do I Marie! Promise to write everyday all right?”

“I promise Katherine. I will miss you so much!”

With a final embrace, Katherine waved at Rosietta and followed after her parents. Marietta stood staring at them as they exited through the double doors. Before it swung shut, Katherine turned around once more and waved with a huge smile.

 

A satisfied reflection looked back on Marietta as she now wrapped her scarf into a shemagh style once again. She tugged at her auburn hair, ensuring her bangs decorated about her face. Satisfied, she stood up and investigated her attire, knowing that when she did return home, mum was going to judge her if she looked anything less than professional. She wore a blue and red checker shirt and soft, light grey khakis. It was cold out, so she figured she would be excused for her sneakers. Her bags were waiting for her before the doorway. While she glanced about the room ensuring she did not leave anything behind, something impossible to happen after her upbringing, the door knocked twice. She hurried over and opened it quickly, greeted by Tom and his brighter than sunshine smile.

“Hello Tom!”

“Marietta, oh you’re leaving already?”

“Well I was just preparing my things, was waiting for you anyway.”

“Right, sorry I am late. I had to run by the lab. Here...” He dipped his hands into his white coat and pulled out a silver flask with an elongated neck down to a wide, circular base, handing it to her.

She cupped it in both hands studying it, trying to see what was inside from the exterior. “Thanks, this is...”

“Yes, this is the potion we brewed for you. It’s exactly like the one you tried that time, with the exception of a small change. You actually gave us the idea when you rubbed your wet fingers on it. So we crushed the block, it comes out like a cleanser now. Then you just rub it on your face, only a finger tip amount would do.”

“Thanks, will it really work?”

“I believe it will, unfortunately we cannot do anything for the short term.”

“It’s good, at least in the long run of things I won’t have to worry about using this scarf again.”

“Indeed, but I must say, it looks really cool. You really got a bit of swag going with it.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, so that’s everything I have for you.”

“Not exactly Tom, you still have my wand.”

“Yes, I left it at the desk... Rosie denied me entry with it, said you couldn’t get it unless you were leaving...”

“Still taking caution I see...”

“Can only take so much... shall I help you with your bags?”

 

It was his shift now, so he took over for Rosietta, impressed that Marietta was as young as she was and able to cast a spell to diminish her baggage into a miniature purse. She draped it over her shoulder and smiled, “My mum... taught me to be very frugal with space. She also gave up on years of badgering me to be organised. Since it was never good enough for her she decided minimising everything would keep my room looking spick and span.”

Tom, intrigued by the story, reminded her of how organised and neat she was. He told her that for the limited space she had in the hospital room during the experiments, they were all amazed that she never once dripped water on the floor.

Marietta though, noticed his text books beside him so decided to let him work. She excused herself and set out to the Owlery to get Fluttery. He was as usual excited to see her. He chirped on her entry, and wasted no time flying upon her shoulder. He looked very happy to be going home now, though Marietta, as much as she missed home, was feeling a heavy weight on her shoulder.

She decided to walk by the lounge to bid the other patients a goodbye, also hoping to see Mesut. He was not there, and she began wondering if he had left. When she saw Andy emerge into the room with his friends excluding him, she thought that was the case.

“Andy! Where is Mesut!?”

“Marietta, you’re still here. We thought you left!”

“No, I am leaving soon. Did Mes leave already?”

“He just did! He was trying to get you last night but you went to bed...”

“What. Sorry excuse me!” She sprinted through them staggering Andy for a bit as she flew out of the lounger. A splatter of trays and silverware sounded just before the door swung shut.

 

She rushed past the reception desk, oblivious to Tom trying to tell her something. She ran down the corridor, pushing her way through the double doors and onto the outside. She examined the surroundings only seeing white coats scurrying about the place, yet she could see no sign of him. The guilt was soon upon her. She could not believe what happened. Now he was gone. He would think once again she disappointed him, like everybody else in his life did. She craved to see him, concealed behind stern eyes and a grotesque beard. Those very eyes that looked upon her without any contempt, but reflected only pain on seeing what she was faced with. She longed to hear his tender voice, easily broken into a whisper when he spoke due to the restrained blushing than formed upon his face. She remembered his smile, no matter how difficult to see through all of that mess on his face, which conveyed his adventurous personality and showed just how simply he viewed the world.

She stood out there for a while staring into the distance as the clutter of Healers disappeared leaving only the cold chill engulfing her. The door behind her opened and footsteps approached stopping just beside her. She looked up, immediately turning away when their eyes met. She looked to the floor quickly to conceal her scarf when something within urged her to look back. The tender voice however found her ears first.

“Leaving without saying goodbye?” it said.

It took no second guessing as she feasted her eyes on the handsome face before her, although it was an entirely different person to the one she had come to know.

“Mesut!” she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, “I thought I’d missed you!”

Stammering, he responded, “If I knew shaving would have had such an effect on you...”  
She released the hug quickly and glared at him, before slapping him across the face. He seemed a bit flummoxed at the strike, though it was not very hard. “I hope that had an effect on you now that all that mess is gone! What happened last night?”

“Oh... I am terribly sorry,” he looked embarrassed and looked to the floor beside her. She refused to relent from her rage, but slightly toned it down when she saw the reflection of her scowling face on the glass door behind, reminding her of her mother.

“Last night was just a misunderstanding is all...” 

“Why? Because you saw me talking to him?” she asked.

“No, it’s just... I am sorry okay. I did.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, it was just he wanted to apologise to me for what happened between us. I didn’t know he was there. Katherine had, set it up.”

“I wish I had known that when I saw, but... I got your message last night when I got back from talking to the guys. It got me to thinking, and I came by, but you were asleep. Then this morning I came by and Katherine said you were with Dr. Bridge. Just now I decided to come see you, but you were not there so I was waiting, and then I saw you scurrying by.”

“I saw you, didn’t really catch me without the beard. I was trying to catch you before you left, didn’t know what Tom was saying.”

“I saw you running with some speed. I can’t believe all that was for me,” he smirked.

“It wasn’t... it was for some ape like jerk. But he is gone now, so now maybe I can focus on you?”

“I would much appreciate that. Do I really look that different?”

“You do, for the better I must add.” She studied his face, making out slight traces of cut lines upon them until she saw his discomfort. “You look very handsome now...”

“Thanks, so now you’ve seen my face. Might I see yours again?” he asked.

“I haven’t grown any hair recently.”

“I think I would like to be certain, wouldn’t like to see some red hair girl out there with a goatee andbe uncertain if it was you.”

“Well, trust me if she had a goatee, she was going to double wrap this scarf.”

“I hardly think that would be necessary...” he stepped forward and clutched the scarf hanging off her face. He tugged it down. It hung over her neck, and quite visibly he could make out the purple pimples, scattered across her cheeks, carving out those words that haunted the girl before him, bending her head to the floor.

“What’s wrong?” he questioned.

“Nothing, you’re just so much different now. I am still the same.”

“You’re still beautiful.”

“I am not.”

He held her chin with his palms and pulled her head up to his. Despite the wavering eyes, they both settled looking into each other’s.

“I am ugly...”

“Maybe things are not always as they seem?”

Marietta’s blush was too much to contain. She chuckled but trailed off as he did the unthinkable. He leaned in and their lips met. They diverged for just a moment, and their eyes glittered into one another's. Mesut’s face however wore the mask of uncertainty as his teeth gritted together. With a grimace, Marietta returned a kiss which was then bolstered by his hands clutching the back of her head. Her hands cupped onto his smooth, slightly cutline infested face. This time, there was no divergence.


	15. Home sweet home.

A loud crack, enough to draw the attention of the neighbour’s dog erupted as Marietta appeared on the sidewalk. She always felt a bit overwhelmed after apparition that she didn’t even budge at the Rottweiler’s snarls as he tried to fit through the white fence. She enjoyed her welcome back, doubting what snarls awaited her when she returned to the house. She looked both ways for Muggle drivers and crossed over to her house.

She went through the mini gate inside the vast red one that plastered the front of her two storey house. She stepped onto the driveway, satisfied at the well kempt lawn beside it which contained a vast number of hibiscus and Basel trees. The downstairs gallery overlooked the front lawn, but Marietta, as well as other family members were forbidden to step on the grass unless in yard boots to do work, which she never allowed Marietta to do.

The driveway went into a shed. Deeper inside, was her mother’s car parked perfectly aligned and with equal distance from both sides of the wall. She smirked as she opened the side entrance, which felt more often like the front entrance. She entered into the sitting room. It was clean and unused usually as they mostly spent their time in the upstairs living room. She took a deep breath, happy to be at home. She walked out of the sitting room into the hall, which contained the entrance to the front gallery and the closed doors of the study, two guest bedrooms and bathroom at the back. The staircase to the upstairs was at the centre, very wide with brown pattern banisters.

On reaching the top, Marietta was drawn to the kitchen, where her mother stood leaning against the cupboard looking at her sharply. She approached her mother slowly.

“I am home Mum...”

She leaned off of the cupboard and stood with her hands akimbo, “Where have you been young lady?”

Unbelievable! “In the hospital!?” she exclaimed.

“For two months?”

“Well, they kept me for observation and made me stay on the wards!” Marietta shouted.

“Don’t take that tone with me. I know that. And didn't you think it was proper conduct to write to your mother to let her know this? Instead I get an owl from your doctor!”

Enraged, Marietta clenched her fists. She had only been in the house for a couple of minutes and already she was guilty of having a bad attitude and irresponsibility. Unbelievable! “I am sorry mum...” she blurted out without much thought. She lowered her head in defeat.

Marianne studied her daughter and then approached her. “Come here Marie!” She locked Marietta into an embrace, settling her chin on her shoulder. “I am glad you’re back honey.”

“I am too mum,” she said, adjusting herself into the hug, “I am too.”

“I am so sorry it hasn’t been cured...”

The look on her mother’s face was genuine. Her smile faded and she looked worried. “It will mum, just not for a while. They gave me a cure, but it won’t take effect yet...”

“That is some good news at least.”

“Yes...”

With pursed lips Marianne looked at the scarf, “Well...” she released her daughter, “I imagine the food there must have been atrocious right?”

“Terribly mum...”

“Come join me in the kitchen then and tell me all about your summer. I am preparing your favourite!”

Marietta followed her mother into the kitchen, who went right back to the stove and resumed stirring the contents of the pot. She took a seat at the centre island and closed her mum’s newspaper before shifting it aside on the counter. A smiled formed upon her lips as she turned around and stared at her mother mulled over the kitchen stove. Maybe, things were not always as they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
